The Parliament speaker in Iran on Sunday warned that the US military and Israel will be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Donald Trump.
The comments by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf represent the first to add Israel into the mix of possible targets for an Iranian strike.
Qalibaf, a hard-liner, made the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”
Iran’s parliament met Sunday to discuss the ongoing protests shaking the nation, with lawmakers at one point rushing to the front of the assembly to chant: “Death to America!”
The show in the parliament, controlled by hard-liners, comes as Iran’s theocracy struggles to contain the demonstrations, now two weeks old.
Lawmakers later chanted other slogans in support of the government.
Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, January 11 as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency gave the new figure, saying arrests had reached more than 2,600 people as well. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest previously.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings from President Donald Trump that America could intervene to protect peaceful demonstrators.
Tehran escalated its threats on Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God”, a death-penalty charge.
