Observers say if US gets response wrong to Tehran’s repression it could end up entrenching regime’s position
Iran warns US against attack as protest death toll reportedly soars
Donald Trump is being warned by Iranians that it will be too late unless he acts quickly to fulfil his promise to help protesters under fire from security services in Iran but the president is receiving conflicting advice about the potential effectiveness of a US intervention.
A major intervention by Washington, some are warning, will only fuel the fire of an Iranian government narrative that the protests are being manipulated as part of an anti-Islamic plot being led by the US and Israel.
Trump has promised that he will “shoot at Iran” if Iranian security services attack protesters; however, analysts suggested the speed of the crisis meant his team has no developed response ready. There has been no major movement of US military assets, and many of his closest Middle East partners such as Qatar are urging restraint. Military options and other possibilities were being placed in front of the unpredictable president, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday.
