Financial Times:

Andrew England in London

Iran has warned the US not to intervene militarily to support protests that have spread across the Islamic republic as President Donald Trump said Washington was “ready to help”.

As two weeks of civil unrest pose the greatest domestic threat to the Islamic regime in years, US media reported that the Trump administration was considering military options in response to the protests. The reports said no decision had been made on an intervention. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The US president has repeatedly said that Washington was ready to come to the “rescue” of Iranians if the authorities there kill protesters.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” Trump said on Saturday on social media. “The USA stands ready to help!!!”

Trump’s comments came as the regime intensified its crackdown and struggled to contain the biggest protests in years amid reports that the death toll was rising.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a foreign-based group, said the death toll since the protests erupted in late December had risen to 116, including security forces. It said more than 2,600 people had been detained.

Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned the US against “a miscalculation”. “Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Ghalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

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