DONALD Trump has reportedly been briefed on strike options in Iran as the Ayatollah’s regime tightens its grip on protesters.
America’s commander-in-chief has signalled he is ready to back Iranian protesters as the US weighs up military action against Tehran.
Trump was briefed with options to strike the country – however was yet to make a final decision, according to the New York Times.
The Wall Street Journal said multiple Iranian military targets are being considered as options for attack.
It comes as Iran’s parliament speaker shouted “Death to America” in a live broadcast – and warned the US and Israel that they would be “legitimate targets” if America carried out military strikes.
Brave protesters have taken to the streets for a 15th day despite warnings that they face the death penalty.
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The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll has risen to 116, while 2,600 people have been detained.
But authorities are feared to be cloaking a brutal backlash – and a much higher death toll.
One doctor said six hospitals in Tehran had recorded at least 217 deaths on Thursday night alone.
Masih Alinejad, a US-based opposition activist, said sources inside Iran told her “hundreds of protesters have been killed by security forces“.
“The regime has shut down the internet to cover up a massacre,” she said.
Trump has previously warned Iran’s enforcers not to use lethal force – telling the mullahs the US military was “locked and loaded”.
Offering support to protesters on Saturday night, Trump posted to social media saying: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before.”
He added: “The USA stands to help!!!”
Trump earlier warned: “I’ve made this statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts.”
The State Department warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
Behind the scenes, US officials have been locked in talks over potential strikes on Iran’s military, according to reports.
Former Pentagon insiders told The Telegraph Trump could unleash covert CIA operations to destabilise the regime – or give Israel the green light to strike first.
While one source claimed a full-scale assault had been discussed, another said no final decision has been made and no US military assets have yet been deployed.
The mass protests, initially sparked by the rising cost of living, have now become a movement against the tyrannical regime that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution – and have already lasted two weeks.
Despite the violence, crowds again poured onto the streets on Saturday night, defying security forces.
The protests are the biggest since 2009, when a communications shutdown heralded the slaughter of hundreds of freedom fighters.
Thousands of arrests were reported as Iran’s army blasted “enemy plots” and warned protesters they faced the death penalty.
Hundreds of towns including the capital have been plunged into total anarchy – with footage showing streets up in flames and swarms of locals destroying buildings.
Authorities have used tear gas to disperse large crowds of furious locals, while Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported gunfire across the country.
Iran’s prosecutor-general Mohammad Movahedi Azad warned on Saturday that all protesters would face the death penalty, as he vowed to charge “rioters and terrorists” as “enemies of god”.
Top Ayatollah crony and Tehran’s chief prosecutor Ali Salehi vowed to use the death penalty on some if they commit “acts of vandalism”.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also accused the Trump of riling up “vandals” and “saboteurs” – while Trump has suggested he is looking to flee, potentially under the safeguard of Vladimir Putin in Russia.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi fears Iran is carrying out a “massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout”.
She suggested that the decision to kill all access to the outside world was “not a technical failure” but instead “a tactic”.
The internet blackout “is now past the 60 hour mark… the censorship measure presents a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of Iranians at a key moment for the country’s future”, monitor Netblocks said on Sunday.
Doctors in Iran said their hospitals were overwhelmed, with one in Tehran in “crisis mode” due to the huge wave of patients, the BBC reports.
Several videos appear to show relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters.
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran 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.