The United States is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said, after a senior Iranian official said Iran had warned neighbours it would hit US bases if the US strikes.
With Iran's leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Iran is seeking to deter US President Donald Trump's repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US was pulling some personnel from key bases in the region as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.
At the White House, however, Trump suggested he was adopting a wait-and-see posture toward the crisis.
Trump told reporters he has been told that reported killings in the Iranian regime's crackdown on the protests were subsiding, and that he believes there is currently no plan for large-scale executions.
When asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump described them as "very important sources on the other side".
US receives 'very good statement' from Iran
Trump did not rule out potential US military action, saying "we are going to watch what the process is" before noting that his administration had received a "very good statement" from Iran.
Two European officials said US military intervention could come in the next 24 hours. An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear.
Qatar said drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest US base in the Middle East, were "being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions".
Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave the base.
Britain was also withdrawing some personnel from an air base in Qatar ahead of possible US strikes, The i Paper reported. The British defence ministry had no immediate comment.
'Most violent repression in Iran's contemporary history'
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against the economic crisis and clerical rule.
Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest — which started 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 Shi'ite clerical rule.
Iran has "never faced this volume of destruction", Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Wednesday, blaming foreign enemies.
The protests in Iran started in response to soaring prices that have worsened daily hardships, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed for more than 45 years. Source: AP / .
Iranian authorities have accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest, carried out by people it calls "armed terrorists".
Iran asks regional states to prevent a US attack
Trump has openly threatened to intervene in Iran for days, without giving specifics. In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, 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 Iran had asked US allies in the region to prevent the US 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 have been suspended, the official added.
The US 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.
Government doesn't seem near collapse: Western official
The flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout.
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated persons, dwarfing tolls from previous waves of protests crushed by the authorities in 2022 and 2009.
The government's prestige was hammered by a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign last June — joined by the US — that followed setbacks for Iran's regional allies in Lebanon and Syria. European powers restored United Nations sanctions over Iran's conflicted nuclear program, compounding the economic crisis there.
The Iranian regime has always denied claims it's pursuing nuclear weapons, saying its program is aimed at "developing civilian nuclear power".
The unrest on such a scale caught the authorities off guard at a vulnerable time, but it doesn't appear that the government faces imminent collapse, and its security apparatus still appears to be in control, one Western official said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian — an elected figure whose power is subordinate to that of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali 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 the head of Iran's top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar, while Araghchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. Araghchi told the UAE foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, that "calm has prevailed".
HRANA reported 18,137 arrests so far.
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