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• Trump asserts close surveillance of Tehran; insists he doesn’t want anything to happen
• Iranian cleric threatens retaliation against US-linked investments
• UN agency holds emergency session to address ‘alarming violence’ against protesters
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said a US “armada” was heading towards the Persian Gulf and that Washington was watching Iran closely, keeping the option of new military action open despite signalling that Tehran appeared interested in negotiations.
On his way back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the president told reporters on Air Force One that the US was sending a “massive fleet” toward the region “just in case”.
“I’d rather not see anything happen but we’re watching them very closely,” Trump said.
While the prospect of immediate American military action seemed to recede in recent days, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance, military tensions remain high.
Trump while addressing the WEF in Davos confirmed on Thursday the US attacked Iranian uranium enrichment sites last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear weapon, an ambition Iran denies. “Can’t let that happen,” Trump said. He added, “And Iran does want to talk, and we’ll talk.”
In a standoff marked by seesawing rhetoric, Iranian officials issued stern warnings regarding US manoeuvrers. An influential cleric warned on Friday that Tehran might target US-linked investments in retaliation for any attack.
“The one trillion dollars you have invested in the region is under the watch of our missiles,” said Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, a prayer leader in Tehran.
Iranian military leadership also escalated its rhetoric. Gen Mohammad Pakpour, a commander in the Revolutionary Guard, warned Israel and the US “to avoid any miscalculations” and avoid a “painful and regrettable fate”. He said the force had its “finger on the trigger” and was ready to carry out orders from the supreme leader.
General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, head of Iran’s joint command headquarters, warned that if America attacked, “all US interests, bases and centres of influence” would be considered “legitimate targets”.
Beyond the geopolitical standoff, Iran is grappling with the aftermath of a fortnight of nationwide protests that shook the clerical leadership starting in late in December.
The UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold an emergency session Friday to discuss the “alarming violence” used against protesters, while a group of states will call on United Nations’ investigators to document alleged abuses for future trials. Rights groups say thousands, including bystanders, were killed during the unrest.
While Trump had previously pulled back a threat to strike Iran, citing reports that Tehran had halted the planned executions of 800 demonstrators, Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, denied that Iran had called off such executions.
“This claim is completely false. No such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision,” Movahedi was quoted as saying by the judiciary’s news agency Mizan.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Fox News last week there was “no plan for hanging at all”.
Giving their first official death toll on Wednesday, Iranian authorities said 3,117 people were killed during the unrest. The statement from Iran’s foundation for martyrs distinguished between “martyrs”—members of security forces or innocent bystanders — and what it called US-backed “rioters”.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of stoking the protests as “cowardly revenge” for the recent war.
He stated that while protest is a natural right, a distinction must be drawn regarding protesters whose “hands are stained with the blood of innocent people.”
Rights groups argue the heavy toll stems from security forces firing directly on demonstrators and say the actual number of dead could be far higher, potentially exceeding 20,000.
Efforts to confirm the scale have been hampered by an internet shutdown that monitor NetBlocks said had surpassed “two full weeks”.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Iran Human Rights NGO, said the official toll has “no credibility whatsoever.” IHR says it has verified at least 3,428 deaths, while the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has documented 4,902 deaths and at least 26,541 arrests.
Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2026
