President Trump said late Thursday that a large naval force was heading to Iran, continuing his threats of U.S. military action against the government nearly a month after protests erupted across the country.
“We’re watching Iran,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to the United States from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he added, describing the force as an “armada.”
Mr. Trump had appeared to back away from threats to strike Iran, saying he had received assurances that detained protesters there would not be executed. Leaders across the Middle East had also warned Mr. Trump that a military confrontation could destabilize the region.
Last week, the Pentagon ordered the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and three Tomahawk-missile-firing destroyers in the South China Sea to head to the Middle East, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
The Air Force in the past week also sent a dozen F-15E fighters to the region to strengthen strike aircraft numbers, according to the officials.
Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, a commander in Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Thursday that any attack on the country would “turn all U.S. interests, bases and centers of influence” into targets, according to state media.
The Iranian government said this week that it had quelled antigovernment protests, which erupted last month. Iran’s state television has said that more than 3,100 people were killed during the demonstrations, but human rights groups monitoring the unrest say the toll is significantly higher.
Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group based in Washington, said on Thursday that over 5,000 people had been killed so far, the majority of them protesters, while the Iran Human Rights group based in Norway put the figure at more than 3,400.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said that his threats of intervention had stopped more than 830 executions, mostly of young men, though Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Movahedi, denied that.
“This claim is completely false; neither does such a number exist, nor has the judiciary made such a decision,” Mr. Movahedi said on Friday, according to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency.
Some Iranian officials previously said that rioters would be considered “enemies of God,” a charge that could carry the death penalty.
It was not clear whether any executions had taken place. The Iranian government has instituted a severe digital and communications blackout, limiting the flow of information out of the country.
Analysts say that the U.S. military deployment in the region was meant to ramp up pressure on the Iranian government and prepare defenses in the event of retaliation.
“The increased buildup, particularly the aircraft carrier, provides an expanded set of offensive options,” said Dana Stroul, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.
The demonstrations began in response to the collapsing Iranian currency and an economy that have pushed many Iranians into hardship. Iran’s economy has been under sustained pressure for years, largely as a result of Western sanctions linked to its nuclear ambitions, as well as corruption and mismanagement.
As the protests spread across the country, they were seen as a direct challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers, who have held power for nearly half a century.
The authorities responded with a deadly crackdown, with witness reports of security forces shooting demonstrators at close range. Officials branded demonstrators “rioters” and “terrorists,” saying they were backed by foreign powers.
As the demonstrations gained momentum, Mr. Trump said on Jan. 2 that the United States was “locked and loaded” to protect Iranian protesters.
U.S. officials said Mr. Trump was exploring diplomacy with Iran, even as he weighed military options, including strikes. He then declared that all talks were off and urged protesters to seize government institutions, though he later said that Iran had responded to his demands by halting the killing and execution of protesters.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump told the reporters on Air Force One that he had warned the Iranian government, “If you hang those people, you are going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit,” adding that the assault would make previous attacks on Iran’s nuclear program “look like peanuts.”
Ali Vaez, an Iran specialist at the International Crisis Group, which focuses on conflict prevention, said the U.S. military threat was credible, given its strikes on Iran last June. “What is unclear is what the end goal is,” he said, adding that Mr. Trump’s initial promise to rescue protesters appeared to have given way to seeking retribution against the regime.
Kiana Hayeri, Eric Schmitt and Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting.
Abdi Latif Dahir is a Middle East correspondent for The Times, covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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