Trump warns Iran not to kill protesters, door still open to talks

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A large number of Iranians gathered outside the British embassy in Tehran on Sunday demanding it be closed.
US President Donald Trump's salvo came as Iran's Islamic regime faced a challenge from angry street protests. PHOTO: NYTIMES

WASHINGTON (AFP, REUTERS) - US President Donald Trump warned Iran Sunday (Jan 12) against killing protesters who have risen up over the regime's downing of a civilian airliner as his defence secretary left the door open to talks with Teheran without preconditions.

Trump's salvo came as Iran's Islamic regime faced a challenge from angry street protests, having come to the brink of war with the US after a series of tit-for-tat confrontations.

"To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS," Trump tweeted, warning that the world and "more importantly, the USA is watching."

Police in the Iranian capital did not fire on protesters and officers have been under orders to show restraint, Teheran's police chief said in a statement carried by the state broadcaster's website on Monday.

Videos posted on social media, posted late on Sunday, had recorded gunshots fired in the vicinity of protests and showed pools of blood.

They also showed images of wounded people being carried by others.

Reuters could not authenticate the footage.

"At protests, police absolutely did not shoot because the capital's police officers have been given orders to show restraint," said Hossein Rahimi, head of the Teheran police.

Iran signalled it favours a de-escalation.

In a meeting between Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and the visiting emir of Qatar, both sides agreed de-escalation is the "only solution" to the regional crisis, the Qatari ruler said.

Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region but also enjoys strong ties with Iran, with which it shares the world's largest gas field.

"We agreed... that the only solution to these crises is de-escalation from everyone and dialogue," Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said on what was believed to be his first official visit to the Islamic republic.

For his part, Rouhani said: "We've decided to have more consultations and cooperation for the security of the entire region."

Iran's president also met with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, whose country has offered to mediate between Teheran and US ally Riyadh.

In a meeting Sunday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned military conflict with Iran will have an impact on global peace and stability, Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Masato Ohtaka said.

In an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" just before the tweet, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said Trump was still willing to hold talks with Iran's leaders.

"We're willing to sit down and discuss without precondition a new way forward, a series of steps by which Iran becomes a more normal country," Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on CBS's "Face the Nation".

And if something happened to the protesters? Esper replied: "The president has drawn no preconditions other than to say we're willing to meet with the Iranian government." Long-standing US-Iran tensions have soared since Jan 3 when missiles fired from a US drone killed a top Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani, near Baghdad's airport.

Iran responded with a barrage of missiles at two US bases in Iraq, inflicting no casualties in what was seen as an attempt to prevent a spiral of escalation.

But hours later, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet shortly after takeoff from Teheran.

The death of all 176 people aboard and Iran's belated admission its forces mistook the plane for a cruise missile has set off angry protests against the regime.

The British ambassador to Iran was briefly arrested on Saturday after attending a memorial service for the victims at Teheran's Amir Kabir University.

"I just think you see a very corrupt regime that the Iranian people are finally standing up and trying to hold them accountable," Esper said.

On another Sunday talk show, national security advisor Robert O'Brien said the Iranian regime was "reeling from maximum pressure." "They are reeling from their incompetence in this situation. And the people of Iran are just fed up with it," he said on ABC's "This Week".

"Iran is being choked off, and Iran is going to have no other choice but to come to the table." Trump late Sunday slapped O'Brien down, saying, "Actually, I couldn't care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them."

Meanwhile, said Esper, the US believes it has disrupted the plots that it says precipitated Soleimani's killing, and expects no further Iranian retaliation.

Esper and O'Brien defended the intelligence that led the administration to claim Soleimani was plotting imminent attacks on US troops and diplomats in the region.

But other than in the case of the US embassy in Baghdad, Esper would not confirm Trump's claim that four US embassies in the region were among Soleimani's targets.

Asked if there was specific evidence in the intelligence to support the claim, Esper said, "I didn't see one with regard to four embassies."

The administration has come under fire from Democrats - and at least two Republican senators - for refusing to share the intelligence with members of Congress.

Senior congressional leaders - the so-called Gang of Eight - were briefed Jan 8 as skepticism mounted about the administration's rationale for a killing that raised the risk of war with Iran.

"We had exquisite intelligence and the intelligence showed that they were looking at US facilities throughout the region," O'Brien said on NBC's "Meet the Press". "The threat was imminent."

Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said there was no discussion in the briefing given to the Gang of Eight about plots against four embassies.

"In the view of the briefers, there was plotting, there was an effort to escalate, a big plan, but they didn't have specificity," he said.

"So when you hear the president out there on Fox, he is fudging intelligence," he said on "Face the Nation".

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the congressional leadership should have been informed of the strike against Soleimani in advance.

"I don't think the administration has been straight with the Congress of the United States," she said on "Meet the Press".

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