Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force central to suppressing recent nationwide protests that left thousands dead, is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander said Saturday, as U.S. warships moved toward the Middle East.
Nournews, an outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that Guard commander Gen. Mohammad Pakpour warned the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
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The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier and a U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress
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“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the commander-in-chief,” Nournews quoted Pakpour as saying.
Tensions between Iran and the United States remain high following a violent crackdown on protests that erupted on December 28 after the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial. The unrest swept the country for roughly two weeks before being crushed by security forces.
Trump’s warnings
President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran, setting two red lines for potential US military action: the killing of peaceful protesters and the mass execution of detainees arrested during the demonstrations.
Trump has claimed that Iran halted plans to execute 800 detainees, though he has not disclosed the source of the information. Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, denied the claim in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
On Thursday, Trump said aboard Air Force One that the United States was moving warships toward Iran “just in case.”
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it,” he said.
A US Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying vessels were operating in the Indian Ocean.
Trump also referenced earlier negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, which collapsed after Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in June that included US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. He warned that any future US action would make previous strikes “look like peanuts.”
“They should have made a deal before we hit them,” Trump said.
Airline disruptions
Rising tensions prompted several European airlines to suspend or delay flights to the region. Air France canceled two weekend round-trip flights between Paris and Dubai, citing security concerns, though it said service would resume later Saturday.
Luxair postponed a flight from Luxembourg to Dubai by 24 hours, saying it was monitoring the situation closely. Flight information at Dubai International Airport also showed cancellations of flights from Amsterdam by KLM and Transavia.
Some KLM flights to Tel Aviv were also canceled Friday and Saturday, according to flight tracking data.
Rising death toll
Although street protests have subsided in recent days, the reported death toll has continued to climb as information emerges despite Iran’s most extensive internet blackout to date.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Saturday that at least 5,137 people have been killed and more than 27,700 arrested. Iran’s government has acknowledged 3,117 deaths, describing many of those killed as “terrorists,” a characterization activists reject.
The unrest marks the deadliest period of internal violence in Iran in decades, rivaling the turmoil surrounding the 1979 Islamic Revolution.