{"id":4947,"date":"2026-01-13T10:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/iran-us-at-possible-precipice-of-renewed-conflict-as-protests-continue\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:36:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:36:02","slug":"iran-us-at-possible-precipice-of-renewed-conflict-as-protests-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/iran-us-at-possible-precipice-of-renewed-conflict-as-protests-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran, US at possible precipice of renewed conflict as protests continue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Washington and Tehran are engaged in escalating rhetoric over <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/liveblog\/2026\/1\/13\/iran-protests-live-tehran-says-its-prepared-for-any-move-by-trump\">ongoing protests in Iran<\/a>, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying his government is ready for war after United States President Donald Trump threatened military action over Iran\u2019s crackdown on the demonstrations.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s intelligence agency said on Tuesday that US arms and explosive equipment had been seized from \u201cmilitants\u201d who hid the weapons in several homes in the country.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/iranian-fm-araghchi-warns-iran-ready-for-war-if-us-wants-to-test-it\">Iran says it is ready for war as US president discusses military options<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/trump-administration-says-still-considering-military-strikes-on-iran\">Trump administration says still considering military strikes on Iran<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/trump-says-any-country-doing-business-with-iran-will-face-25-percent-tariff\">Trump says any country doing business with Iran will face 25 percent tariff<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/13\/a-timeline-of-crises-faced-by-iran-since-1979\">Iran since 1979: A timeline of crises<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The statement followed earlier claims by Araghchi, in an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/iranian-fm-araghchi-warns-iran-ready-for-war-if-us-wants-to-test-it\">exclusive interview with Al Jazeera<\/a>, that Iranian authorities had recordings of voices from abroad giving orders to \u201cterrorist agents\u201d to fire on police and protesters.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian officials have previously accused the US and Israel of deploying \u201cforeign agents\u201d to the country to instigate violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe internet was only cut after we confronted terrorist operations, and realised that orders were coming from outside the country,\u201d Araghchi told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have recorded voices of individuals giving orders from abroad to terrorist agents, instructing them to fire at police forces and fire at demonstrators if police forces were not present. Their intention was to spread killing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the interview, Araghchi responded to Washington\u2019s recent threats of military action over the repression of the protests by saying his country was ready for war if Washington wanted \u201cto test\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,\u201d said Araghchi, adding that he hoped the US would choose \u201cthe wise option\u201d of dialogue, while warning of \u201cthose trying to drag Washington into war in order to serve Israel\u2019s interests\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He said communications with US special envoy Steve Witkoff had \u201ccontinued before and after the protests and are still ongoing\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"vance-rubio-presenting-options-to-trump\">Vance, Rubio \u2018presenting options\u2019 to Trump<\/h2>\n<p>The office of US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that top Trump administration officials were preparing diplomatic and military options to present to Trump over the ongoing protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio together are presenting a suite of options to the president, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military actions,\u201d said William Martin, Vance\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n<p>The comments came as hardline US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham urged Trump to escalate pressure on Iran\u2019s leadership, saying the \u201cbiggest prize\u201d of his presidency would be the \u201cdemise of the Iranian state led by the Ayatollah\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He said US military action should focus on targeting \u201cthe infrastructure that allows the killing to happen\u201d, while stopping short of advocating a ground invasion.<\/p>\n<p>Putting US troops on the ground against the battle-hardened Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would risk serious US losses.<\/p>\n<p>The US last year bombed Iranian nuclear sites when it joined Israel\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/6\/26\/visualising-12-days-of-the-israel-iran-conflict\">12-day war<\/a> with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The statements followed Trump\u2019s remarks on Sunday that he was considering \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/trump-says-us-military-considering-very-strong-options-for-iran\">strong options<\/a>\u201d for Iran over its leadership\u2019s crackdown on the demonstrations, which began last month over a plummeting currency and have widened into broader antigovernment protests, resulting in many deaths and prompting Iranian authorities to cut off the country\u2019s internet.<\/p>\n<p>The semiofficial Tasnim news agency <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/11\/iran-says-dozens-of-officers-killed-as-protesters-defy-government-crackdown\">reported<\/a> on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have lost their lives, but opposition activists based outside the country said the death toll is much higher and includes hundreds of protesters.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera could not independently verify either figure.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"us-tariffs-on-countries-that-trade-with-iran\">US tariffs on countries that trade with Iran<\/h2>\n<p><span>In addition to the threat of military action, Trump <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/12\/trump-says-any-country-doing-business-with-iran-will-face-25-percent-tariff\">has threatened<\/a><span> countries engaging in trade with Iran with a 25 percent tariff on any business done with the US.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He announced the decision in a social media post on Monday, stating that it was \u201cfinal and conclusive\u201d but offering few additional details.<\/p>\n<p>The move drew a scathing response from China. In a statement issued in Washington, DC, the Chinese embassy said Beijing \u201cfirmly opposes any illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction\u201d, and will take \u201call necessary measures\u201d to safeguard its interests.<\/p>\n<p>As demonstrations continued and security restrictions tightened, Washington also urged its citizens in Iran to flee the country immediately via Armenia or Turkiye.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave Iran now. Have a plan for departing Iran that does not rely on US government help,\u201d the US Virtual Embassy in Iran said in a security alert issued on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The Iranian government has \u201crestricted access to mobile, landline, and national internet networks\u201d, while airlines \u201ccontinue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran\u201d with several suspending services until Friday, the alert said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"internet-blackout-continues\">Internet blackout continues<\/h2>\n<p>Iran\u2019s internet has been shut down for more than 100 hours, the London-based cybersecurity monitor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/8\/iran-experiencing-nationwide-internet-blackout-monitor-says\">NetBlocks<\/a> said, with national connectivity levels continuing to flatline at about 1 percent of ordinary levels.<\/p>\n<p>Despite restrictions on phone networks, mobile phone users in Iran were briefly able to make international calls on Tuesday, The Associated Press news agency reported, although it was unable to return calls to those numbers.<\/p>\n<p>The Iranians who spoke to AP said SMS text messaging was still down and that internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally, but nothing abroad.<\/p>\n<p>They described seeing a heavy security presence in central Tehran, with antiriot police officers, wearing helmets and body armour, and carrying shotguns, tear gas launchers and shields posted at important intersections.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses said several banks and government offices had been burned during the unrest, adding that banks were struggling to complete transactions without the internet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington and Tehran are engaged in escalating rhetoric over ongoing protests in Iran, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying his government is ready for war after United States President Donald Trump threatened military action over Iran\u2019s crackdown on the demonstrations. Iran\u2019s intelligence agency said on Tuesday that US arms and explosive equipment had been &#8230; <a title=\"Iran, US at possible precipice of renewed conflict as protests continue\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/iran-us-at-possible-precipice-of-renewed-conflict-as-protests-continue\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Iran, US at possible precipice of renewed conflict as protests continue\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}