Iran: the government in full control after brutally cracking down on the protests.

Iran’s foreign minister declared on Wednesday that the government was in full control

Jacob Magid

ToI Staff

“After three days of terrorist operation, now there is a calm. We are in full control,” Araghchi told US broadcaster Fox News’s “Special Report” program.

Earlier on Wednesday, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that at least 2,571 people had been killed and more than 18,100 had been arrested in the more than two weeks of protests. The Mossad is said to believe the death toll is more than twice as high.

Amid Trump’s threats of action, the Iranian regime has threatened to retaliate, warning that it will target both US military bases in the US and Israel should Washington act.

The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused Israel and the US on Wednesday of being behind the protests that have upended the country, and reiterated that Tehran was ready to respond “decisively” should it be threatened.

The Guard is at “the height of readiness to respond decisively to the miscalculation of the enemy,” said IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour in a written statement quoted by state television, accusing Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the “murderers of the youth of Iran.”

Israel, too, was said to be preparing Wednesday for the possibility of escalation between Washington and Tehran, and Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu has been in frequent contact with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the issue.

Addressing the possibility of Iranian retaliation against Israel, the report cited a senior Israeli security source as saying that “if Iran attacks, there won’t be another round — we will act to topple the regime.”

A Lebanese source familiar with the terror organization’s thinking told Reuters that Hezbollah did not offer explicit guarantees that it would withhold from military action against Israel, but said it had no plans to act unless a US strike on Iran was deemed to be “existential” for the regime’s leadership.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday night that it has stepped up its defensive posture and was closely monitoring developments in the region, but urged the public to rely only on official updates and avoid spreading rumors.

“I am aware of the reports over the past day and especially in the last few hours and request to clarify – the IDF is closely following the developments,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a statement posted on X.