Donald Trump has said he believes Iran’s regime could fall following weeks of unrest across the country, as the US president considers whether to intervene.
Preparations for possible action have been under way this week, according to Sky News’ partner network NBC News.
The Pentagon has tailored options to meet the president’s objectives, and they were due to be presented to him on Wednesday, two US officials and a person familiar with the discussions said.
The US has already begun withdrawing some military personnel from its Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the biggest American military base in the region. Sky News understands UK personnel were also leaving the same base.
Mr Trump declared earlier this week that “help is on its way” for Iranian protesters who have been met with a brutal crackdown from the regime, fuelling expectations of US military intervention.
A total of 2,615 people have been killed in the demonstrations, which began last month, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, though other reports have suggested a much higher number.
Mr Trump also promised to take “very strong action” if the regime in Tehran goes ahead with executing protesters.
But speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, he claimed he’d been told the “killing in Iran is stopping”.
A family member of one of those facing execution, Erfan Soltani, told Sky News there was no official announcement about his status on Wednesday.
But they added that Mr Soltani, 26, who was reportedly arrested last Thursday, could still face execution at any time.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claimed in a Fox News interview that no executions were planned.
‘Any regime can fail’
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Trump said he believed the protests could lead to the fall of the regime, which has been in place since the revolution of 1979.
“Any regime can fail,” he said, adding: “Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time.”
But he expressed doubt as to whether Iran’s exiled crown prince, who has become a prominent voice spurring on protesters, could take over.
Mr Trump said Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country”.
Read more: Who is Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi?
US correspondent
Donald Trump sounded like a president stepping back from military action.
In an Oval Office news conference, we didn’t get a definitive answer on where he goes next on Iran, but we did get a sense of de-escalation.
The day before, he’d promised the US would take “very strong action” if Iran executed protestors.
24 hours later, he said he’d been informed “the killing has stopped and the executions won’t take place”.
He was asked did that mean military action was now off the table.
His answer was “we’re going to watch and see what the process is, but we were given a very good statement by people aware of what’s going on”.
When pushed on military action, he replied: “We were just told no executions, I hope that’s true, that’s a big thing.”
He didn’t confirm how big but to listen to his public statements, it’s clear the issue of executions by the Tehran regime are big in his thinking on what to do next.
It sounded like a step back from a military strike – but he wasn’t confirming that.
It remains an option and the context, of course, is one where the United States is gearing up for such an action.
On Tuesday, Trump outlined to his national security team what he wants any US military action in Iran to achieve.
The Pentagon has duly tailored options for presentation to the President.
Elsewhere, America’s Western allies remain concerned about the situation across Iran.
The British embassy in Tehran has been temporarily closed, and the Foreign Office said it had “taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw UK staff from Iran”.
The UK already advises against all travel to the country.
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Foreign ministers from the G7 group of nations, which includes the UK, also issued a joint statement on Wednesday to stress they were “gravely concerned by the developments surrounding the ongoing protests”.
“The members of the G7 remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement added.
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Meanwhile, Iran has now been cut off from nearly all telecommunications for more than six days, according to internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks.
The government began blocking internet access and international calls last Thursday as protests intensified.
