Iran yesterday vowed to defend itself against any foreign threat, after US President Donald Trump said he would “watch it and see” about military action over the crackdown on protesters.

Donald Trump said he would "watch it and see" about threatened military action

Direct contact between the United States and Iran has broken down amid rising tensions over Tehran’s violent crackdown on protesters and growing fears of US military intervention.

The Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to "prevent Washington from attacking Iran".

International outrage has built over the crackdown that a rights group said has likely killed thousands during protests posing one of the biggest challenges yet to Iran's clerical leadership.

Strategically, it is under pressure from Israel and the United States, its nuclear program degraded, its regional “Axis of Resistance” proxy armed groups weakened by crippling losses to allies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

US President Donald Trump yesterday urged Iranians to continue nationwide protests, promising that help “was on its way,” as the death toll from more than two weeks of violence crossed 2,000.

The demonstrations moved from protesting economic grievances to demanding a wholesale change from the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution that ousted the shah.

The government's call for rallies in support of the Islamic republic drew thousands

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran is keeping communications open with the US.

"Any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both," pledged the countries

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However, Trump added that 'we may have to act before a meeting.'

Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said yesterday, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told parliament in comments broadcast by state TV, apparently also referring to Israel

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CENTCOM's post on X did not give specifics on where they took place.

The demonstrations sparked by severe economic pressures have swelled and turned to ousting the clerical authorities.

Rights groups expressed alarm on Saturday that Iranian authorities were intensifying a deadly crackdown under cover of an internet blackout, after another night of mass protests in the biggest demonstrations to face the Islamic republic in years.

Rights groups yesterday expressed alarm that Iranian authorities were intensifying a deadly crackdown under cover of an internet blackout on the biggest demonstrations in the Islamic republic in over three years after another night of mass protests.