Tehran threatened on Sunday to retaliate against Israel as well as US military bases in the event of American strikes on Iran, issuing the warning as Israeli sources said the country was on high alert.
With Iran’s clerical establishment facing the biggest anti-government protests since 2022, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in recent days amid reports of a growing death toll from a crackdown on demonstrators.
US media reported that Trump had been presented with options for potential strikes, including on non-military sites in Tehran.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned 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 Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guards.
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“We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat,” he said.
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Three Israeli sources, who were present for security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for any US intervention, but did not elaborate on what that meant.
An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day air war in June last year, in which the US joined Israel after it launched airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites. In response, Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel, killing multiple civilians, and targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
‘Endurance game’
In a phone call on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source who was present for the conversation.
A US official confirmed the two men spoke but did not say what topics they discussed.
A senior US intelligence official on Saturday described the situation in Iran as an “endurance game.”
Protesters participate in a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, in support of the nationwide mass anti-regime protests in Iran, January 10, 2026. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The opposition was trying to keep up pressure until key government figures either flee or switch sides, while the authorities were trying to sow enough fear to clear the streets without giving the United States justification to intervene, the official said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar urged the European Union on Sunday to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
Sa’ar said on X that he told visiting German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt “that now is the time to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization within the European Union.”
“This has long been Germany’s position, and today the importance of this matter is clear to all,” Sa’ar added.
‘Massacre’
Iranian rights groups said Sunday that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.
At least 192 people have been killed in two weeks of protests against the government and economic strain in Iran, a rights group said.
“Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters,” the Norway-based NGO said, warning that the toll could be much higher as a days-long internet blackout hampered verification.
An anti-government protester holds up a photo of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Iranian shah, during a mass demonstration against the regime in Tehran on January 9, 2025. (Screen capture/X)
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown.”
“A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life,” it said.
It said hospitals were “overwhelmed,” blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic.
The protests began in response to soaring inflation, before turning against the clerical establishment that has ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Iranian government accuses the US and Israel of fomenting unrest.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout imposed by the authorities since Thursday.
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