US President Donald Trump said this Sunday (11) that Iran’s leaders called him seeking negotiation, after he threatened to take “very strong actions” in retaliation for the violence in protests taking place in the country.
“A meeting is being prepared. Iran has called. They want to negotiate,” Trump told a group of journalists aboard the presidential plane Air Force One. The White House leader said he is receiving information every hour about the evolution of the protests and that his government “will respond.”
“We may have to act before a meeting,” suggested the American.
The president considers that the Iranian regime “is starting” to cross a red line, because “people died who didn’t have to die”, something he attributed to the empire of violence on the part of its leaders.
“Some of the protesters died from being trampled on, there were many. And some were shot,” he declared.
Trump said the US military is “studying” the case and that “there are some options” on the table, without going into detail.
He, however, said he believes Iran takes its threats seriously after “years” of dealing with it, and recalled the deaths of Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, Islamic State leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi and “the diminished Iranian nuclear threat.”
“And now we just had what happened in Venezuela. Wouldn’t you say yes (Iran takes threats seriously) after all these things we did?” he commented.
In addition, Trump downplayed his concern about possible Iranian attacks on American bases after threats made on Sunday by the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
“If they do, we will attack them at levels they have never been attacked before,” he warned.
At least 538 people died in Iran, according to data from the US-based NGO Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), in demonstrations that began on December 28 due to the economic crisis and that spread inside and outside the country.
Iran’s supreme leader publishes cartoon mocking Trump
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top leader, used his social media to mock Trump this weekend.
In the publication, the regime’s supreme authority described Trump as a stone sarcophagus, referring to historical figures such as the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The image was accompanied by the following message: “This one will also be taken down.”
Khamenei went on to say that other leaders marked in history were “overthrown when they were at the height of their pride”.
“This guy who sits there with arrogance and pride, judging the entire world, should know that generally the tyrants and arrogants of the world, such as Pharaoh, Nimrod, Reza Khan, Mohammad Reza and others, were deposed at the height of their pride; he will also be deposed”, says the publication.
