Trump's 'military intervention' in Iran 'appears likely': officials warn

WASHINGTON (Agencies) - US military intervention in Iran now appears likely and could take place within the next 24 hours, officials have warned, amid sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.

American, European and Israeli sources said preparations for possible action were under way as Washington began evacuating personnel from its major air base in Qatar.

Tehran has warned neighbouring countries that the military airfields would be targeted if Donald Trump orders a strike.

With Iran's leadership trying to quash the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deter the US president's repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.

An American official said on Wednesday that the evacuation of Al Udeid Air Base was a precautionary move following warnings from a senior Iranian official.

Meanwhile, two European officials said military intervention now appeared likely, with one suggesting it could come within the next 24 hours.

An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, although the precise timing and scope of any strike had yet to be made clear.

Qatar said drawdowns from the air base, the biggest US site in the region, were 'being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions'.

Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave, though there were no immediate signs of large numbers of troops being evacuated. Last year, soldiers were taken by bus to a soccer stadium and shopping mall in the hours before an Iranian missile strike.

It comes as Benjamin Netanyahu's jet departed Israel earlier today, while Trump considered his next move.

The US leader has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule.

Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest, which began two weeks ago, as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and rapidly escalated in recent days, as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed Iran's system of clerical rule.

An Iranian official has said more than 2,000 people have died. A rights group put the toll at more than 2,600.

Iran 'had never faced this volume of destruction', Armed Forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Wednesday, blaming foreign enemies. French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot described 'the most violent repression in Iran's contemporary history'.

Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, carried out by people it calls armed terrorists.

Trump has openly threatened to intervene in Iran for days, without giving specifics. In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, he vowed 'very strong action' if Iran executes protesters. He also urged Iranians to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring 'help is on the way'.

The senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to prevent Washington from attacking Iran.

'Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked' if the US targets Iran, the official said.

Direct contacts between Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, the official added.

The United States has forces across the region, including the forward headquarters of its Central Command at Al Udeid in Qatar and the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout.

US-based HRANA rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated individuals, dwarfing tolls from previous waves of protests crushed by the authorities in 2022 and 2009.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group (IHR) claims Iranian security forces have killed at least 3,428 protesters, adding that more than 10,000 people have also been arrested.

The government's prestige was severely damaged last year by a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign in June, joined by the US, that followed setbacks for Iran's regional allies in Lebanon and Syria. European countries triggered the restoration of UN sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, worsening an economic crisis.

The unrest on such a scale had caught the authorities off guard at a vulnerable time, but it did not appear that the government faced imminent collapse, and its security apparatus was still in control, one Western official said.

The authorities have sought to project images showing they retain public support. Iranian state TV broadcast footage of large funeral processions for people killed in the unrest in Tehran, Isfahan and Bushehr, and other cities.

People waved flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and held aloft signs with anti-riot slogans.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, an elected figure whose power is subordinate to that of Khamenei, told a cabinet meeting that as long as the government had popular support, 'all the enemies' efforts against the country will come to nothing'.

State media reported that the head of Iran's top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar, while Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that 'calm has prevailed'.

Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran's chief justice said speed in judging and penalizing those 'who beheaded or burned people' was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.

HRANA reported 18,137 arrests so far.

Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, was to be executed on Wednesday. The group said on Wednesday it was not able to confirm whether the sentence had been carried out.