Iran acknowledges the death toll, but says the situation is under control as Trump responds

Iran’s theocratic rulers are under more pressure than they have been in years, as President Trump leaves the country. the option of US military intervention on the table in the face of a rapidly increasing death toll during more than two weeks of fighting against the government protests across the Islamic Republic.

Mr. Trump said on Sunday that Iranian officials had called him to “negotiate” after repeatedly threatening to intervene if authorities killed protesters. In an unusual move, at the moment, IranState-controlled media released a video on Sunday showing dozens of injured people inside and outside a morgue in the Tehran suburb.

A video shared widely online shows a pile of corpses outside a morgue, CBS News has obtained in the southern Tehran neighborhood of Kahrizak. The dead bodies were wrapped in black bags, people were seen in sorrow looking for their loved ones in the area.

A state TV reporter says in this clip that some of those seen dead may have been involved in violence, but that “most of them are ordinary people, and their families are ordinary people.”

A video posted by social media users on Sunday showed similar chilling scenes, and people could be heard crying in the background as some were seen searching for loved ones among the corpses.

It is not clear why the Iranian authorities would choose to show so many casualties, but it could be an attempt to show sympathy for the protesters and reinforce their narrative that they are big players, motivated by messages of support for Mr. Trump, behind the violence, not the government.

President Trump and Iranian officials stepped up their warnings last week, with both sides saying they were ready, but unwilling to fight.

On Sunday, however, Mr. Trump said the Iranian leadership called to talk.

Trump issues new warning, says Iran wants talks

“The leaders of Iran called” yesterday, he told reporters on Sunday on Air Force One, and said “a meeting will be established … They want to negotiate.”

“We may have to take action before the meeting,” warned Mr. Trump. He first warned 10 days ago that if Iran kills protesters, the US will “save them,” but he’s yet to say what exactly might trigger some action against the regime, or what that might entail.

A senior US official confirmed to CBS News on Sunday that the president had been briefed on new options for military strikes on Iran, after Mr.

“We will be hitting them hard where it hurts,” he said at the White House. “And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them hard, hard where it hurts.”

The US has not moved any forces to prepare for possible strikes on Iran, military officials told CBS News over the weekend.

Iran’s embassy official says protests are “totally under control”

Iran has not confirmed direct contact with the Trump administration, but speaking on Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested that the regime control the protests – repeating the government’s claim that the US is behind the violence.

“The situation is now completely under control,” Araghchi said, according to Reuters news agency, as Iranian state TV aired footage of massive pro-government protests across the country.

State-controlled broadcaster IRIB called one demonstration and the funeral march “an Iranian revolt against American-Zionist terrorism.”

Faced with the repeated threats of Mr. Trump, Araghchi said that Iran is “ready for war, but also for negotiations” with the US at any time.

In another sign that the regime may believe it is weathering the storm, the foreign minister said internet service would be restarted in cooperation with Iran’s security forces, although he did not give a specific time frame.

Rights organizations say the number of people killed in the protests could be in the thousands

According to human rights groups based outside the country, which rely on contacts inside Iran, the death toll has risen into the hundreds.

The Washington DC-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that, as of Sunday, the 15th day of protests, at least 544 people have died, including 483 protesters and 47 members of the security forces. UHRANA said that these riots were seen in 186 cities in all 31 provinces of Iran.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), also based in the US, said over the weekend that it had “eyewitness accounts and credible reports showing that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown,” accusing the regime of committing a “massacre.”

The Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR), based in Norway, said on Saturday it had confirmed that 192 protesters had died, but the number could be more than 2,000.

“Unconfirmed reports indicate that at least several hundred, and according to some sources, possibly more than 2,000 people have been killed,” the IHR statement said, adding that according to its estimates, more than 2,600 protesters have been arrested.

HRANA estimates that more than 10,000 people have been arrested.