US President Donald Trump has said that the prospect of talks with Iran is over. He has urged protesters to continue their protests, promising support.

 “Iranian Nationalists Keep Moving. Occupy Your Institutions!!! Protect the Name of the Killer,” Trump wrote on social media, “They will pay a heavy price. I have suspended all meetings with Iranian officials until this senseless killing is stopped. Help is on the way. MIGA!!!”

MIGA stands for ‘Make Iran Great Again’. He won the election with the slogan ‘Make America Great Again’. On Tuesday, Trump briefed US Defense Department officials on the options for possible intervention in Iran. During the meeting, military officials said that long-range missiles could be launched  . Pentagon officials have informed President Trump that cyber operations and psychological operations could be carried out in response.

Trump has also decided to increase tariffs on Iran’s trading partners by 25 percent. Iran’s largest trading partner, China, has said that no one will benefit from a trade war. It has also said that it will protect its commercial interests. After China, Iraq, the UAE, Turkey, India and Pakistan are Iran's biggest trading partners. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that discussions are underway in the European Union on imposing additional trade sanctions on Iran. 

'The rising death toll in Iran is appalling. I condemn the crackdown on freedom and the excessive use of force,' she wrote on the social network X, 'There will be a proposal to impose additional sanctions on those responsible for this repression. We stand with the Iranian people and stand bravely for their freedom.' 

Earlier, news of a military intervention in Iran had spread panic in Israel. The Iranian regime has repeatedly warned that it will retaliate against the US and its ally Israel if it is attacked. 

The Israeli military said on Monday that it was prepared for a possible 'surprise scenario'. 

Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defferin urged the country not to follow rumors about the ongoing crisis in Iran. “The protests in Iran are their internal matter,” he wrote on social media. He said the army was ready to protect its citizens. Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war last June. 

Repression and bloodshed in the protests 

Protests have been ongoing in Iran since December 28 over rising prices of daily necessities due to inflation. The demonstrations have put the legitimacy of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule in jeopardy.

Internet and telephone lines have been cut, making it difficult for the rest of the world to determine the exact number of people killed in the protests. Only a limited number of people have access to the internet here.

The US media outlet Time.com estimates that the death toll may have reached at least 6,000 on Saturday, based on interviews with some hospitals in Tehran, unofficial sources and professional intellectuals and human rights activists abroad. 

Demonstrations are taking place around the world in support of the movement and against the repression of the Iranian regime. An Iranian official claimed in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that nearly 2,000 people have been killed in the protests.

The Iranian regime is plotting various conspiracies to intimidate the protesters. The British media outlet BBC reported that everything was burned in the city of Rasta on the coast of the Caspian Sea. According to the Heng Organization for Human Rights, 26-year-old Irfan Soltini, who was detained last Thursday, has been sentenced to death.

Irfan, who has been missing for several days, has been informed by his family that he will be executed on Wednesday. However, no information was given about where his statement was taken or what charges he is facing. He is the first person to be sentenced to death in the ongoing protests, 

‘We have never seen a case move so quickly,’ Ayer Sekhmi of the Heng Organization told the BBC, ‘The government is using many methods to suppress and intimidate people.’

Hospitals become war zones 

Iranian professor Shahram Kordasti has worked as an oncologist in London for two decades. He is in regular contact with a network of doctors in Iran. ‘In the previous protests, it was easier to get information. Now all means of communication, including Starlink, are blocked,’ he said. He had received a message from a doctor in Tehran just a few days ago. ‘Most hospitals have become war zones. There is a shortage of medicine. There is a shortage of blood,’ he said, relaying the message. But he said it was difficult to confirm this.