Iran warns of retaliation if Trump strikes, US withdraws some personnel from bases

The United States is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit American bases if Washington strikes, Reuters reported.

With Iran’s leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deter US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.

The UN Security Council is due to meet on Iran on Thursday at the request of the United States.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was pulling some personnel from key bases in the region as a precaution given the heightened regional tensions.

“All the signals are that a U.S. attack is imminent, but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes. Unpredictability is part of the strategy,” a Western military official told Reuters later on Wednesday.

At the White House, however, Trump suggested he was adopting a wait-and-see posture toward the crisis.

Trump told reporters that he has been told that killings in the Iranian government’s crackdown on the protests were subsiding and that he believes there is currently no plan for large-scale executions.

Asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump described them as “very important sources on the other side.”

The president did not rule out potential US military action, saying “we are going to watch what the process is” before noting that his administration had received a “very good statement” from Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday “there is no plan” by Iran to hang people, when asked about the anti-government protests.

“There is no plan for hanging at all,” the foreign minister told Fox News in an interview on the “Special Report with Bret Baier” show. “Hanging is out of the question,” he said.

According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Society, hangings are common in Iranian prisons.

Two European officials said US military intervention could come in the next 24 hours. An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear.

Qatar said drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest US base in the Middle East, were “being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions”.

Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave the base, though there were no immediate signs of large numbers of troops being bussed out to a soccer stadium and shopping mall as took place hours before an Iranian missile strike last year.

Britain was also withdrawing some personnel from an air base in Qatar ahead of possible US strikes.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against clerical rule.

Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest, which began two weeks ago as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and rapidly escalated in recent days, as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed Iran’s system of Shi’ite clerical rule.

An Iranian official has said more than 2,000 people have died. A rights group put the toll at more than 2,600.

Iran has “never faced this volume of destruction”, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Wednesday, blaming foreign enemies.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described “the most violent repression in Iran’s contemporary history”.

Iranian authorities have accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest, carried out by people it calls armed terrorists.