US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was considering potential military action against Iran, amid mounting mass anti-government protests in the country.

“They’re starting to, it looks like,” Trump said, when asked by reporters aboard Air Force One if Iran had crossed his previously stated red line of protesters being killed.

“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination,” he said.

He also said that Iran’s leadership had called seeking “to negotiate” after his threats of military action.

“The leaders of Iran called” yesterday, Trump said, adding that “a meeting is being set up… They want to negotiate.”

However, Trump added that “we may have to act before a meeting.”

Trump to meet senior advisers

Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters on Sunday.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.

Earlier, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation.”

“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

Iranian president calls for ‘national resistance march’

The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning for “martyrs” including members of the security forces killed in two weeks of protests, state television reported on Sunday.

The government described the fight against what it has termed “riots” as an “Iranian national resistance battle against America and the Zionist regime”, using the clerical leadership’s term for Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise.

President Masoud Pezeshkian urged people to take part in a “national resistance march” of nationwide rallies on Monday to denounce the violence, which the government said was committed by “urban terrorist criminals”, state television reported.

Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 72 hours, according to monitor Netblocks.

Activists have warned that the shutdown is limiting the flow of information and that the actual toll risks being far higher.

Meanwhile, unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday

According to its latest figures – from activists inside and outside Iran-US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.

Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tallies.

• Rights group reports over 500 deaths during two-week unrest.
• Internet blackout continues, limiting information flow across Iran.
• Iran summons UK envoy to foreign ministry over embassy protest.

The Iranian government on Sunday declared three days of national mourning for “martyrs” including members of the security forces killed in two weeks of protests, state television said.

The government described the fight against what it has termed “riots” as an “Iranian national resistance battle against America and the Zionist regime”, using the clerical leadership’s term for Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise.

President Masoud Pezeshkian urged people to take part in a “national resistance march” of nationwide rallies on Monday to denounce the violence, which the government said was committed by “urban terrorist criminals”, state television reported.

The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have evolved into a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution. They have already lasted two weeks.

The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June, which was backed by the United States.

Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 72 hours, according to monitor Netblocks. Activists have warned that the shutdown is limiting the flow of information and that the actual toll risks being far higher.

Death toll reaches 500: rights group

Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.

With the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.

According to its latest figures — from activists inside and outside Iran — US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.

Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.

Trump to meet senior advisers

Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation.”

“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.

Iran’s unrest comes as Trump flexes US muscles internationally, having ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.

Iranian President Pezeshkian said Israel and the US were masterminding destabilisation and that Iran’s enemies had brought in “terrorists … who set mosques on fire …. attack banks, and public properties”.

“Families, I ask you: do not allow your young children to join rioters and terrorists who behead people and kill others,” he said in a TV interview, adding that the government was ready to listen to the people and to resolve economic problems.

Iran summoned Britain’s ambassador on Sunday to the foreign ministry over “interventionist comments” attributed to the British foreign minister and a protester removing the Iranian flag from the London Embassy building and replacing it with a style of flag used prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Britain’s foreign office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Iranian state TV broadcast funeral processions in western cities such as Gachsaran and Yasuj for security personnel killed in protests.

State TV said 30 members of the security forces would be buried in the central city of Isfahan and that six more were killed by “rioters” in Kermanshah in the west.

• Cuba lived on Venezuelan oil, money for years: Trump
• Trump suggests Rubio would become next Cuba leader.
• US intelligence not clear if island nation “ready to fall”.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested Cuba should strike a deal with Washington, warning that the island nation would no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela.

Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces, Trump has successfully pressed interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send Venezuelan oil to the United States.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday.

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump said.

US intelligence has painted a grim picture of Cuba’s economic and political situation, but its assessments offer no clear support for Trump’s prediction that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.

The CIA’s view is that key sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions and other problems.

The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ally, could make governing more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil is devastating. Between January and November of last year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, covering roughly 50% of Cuba’s oil deficit, according to shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

Separately, Trump reposted a social media message suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, born to Cuban immigrant parents, would become the next leader of Cuba.

Trump republished a Truth Social message from user Cliff Smith, posted on January 8, that read “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba,” accompanied by a crying laughing emoji.

Trump’s comment on the repost was “Sounds good to me!”

The largely unknown user, whose bio refers to him as a “conservative Californian” has less than 500 followers.

Trump’s repost comes a week after US forces seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.