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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called on President Donald Trump to target Iran’s leadership, arguing that such action would embolden protesters and lead to peace in the Middle East.
“Whatever action we are going to take, Mr. President, is to embolden the protesters and scare the hell out of the regime,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News. “If I were you, Mr. President, I would kill the leadership that are killing the people. You have got to end this.”
“If it ends well, then peace breaks out. All the state-sponsored terrorism activity stops. Hezbollah, Hamas, they go away. Israel and Saudi make peace. A new day in the Mideast,” he added.
Two US senators warned on Sunday that military action against Iran could backfire, saying strikes risk uniting Iranians behind their rulers rather than weakening them, as nationwide protests continue in the country.
“I don’t know that bombing Iran will have the effect that is intended,” Republican Senator Rand Paul said on ABC News’ This Week.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner said a US military attack could rally Iranians against an outside enemy rather than undermine the authorities.
Warner, speaking on Fox News Sunday, warned that a strike against Iran could unite Iranians against the United States “in a way that the regime has not been able to.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “shocked” by reports of violence against protesters in Iran and urged the authorities to show restraint, his spokesman said on Sunday.
“[Guterres] is shocked by the reports of violence and excessive use of force by the Iranian authorities against protesters,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
He called on Iranian authorities “to exercise maximum restraint and to refrain from unnecessary or disproportionate use of force,” Dujarric said.
A series of videos obtained by Vahid Online, an Iranian blogger and internet activist known for documenting protests, from Tehran’s Kahrizak forensic center show rows of bodies reportedly transported by pickup trucks after the January 8 crackdown on protests in Iran.
In one clip, an on-screen label refers to “photo number … out of 250,” suggesting the scale of fatalities.
Two eyewitnesses who visited Kahrizak in search of their loved ones told Iran International that they saw more than 400 bodies there. The most conservative estimates indicate that at least 2,000 people have been killed across Iran on January 8 and 9.
A doctor in the northern city of Rasht told Iran International that one hospital alone received at least 70 bodies. On Friday alone, 44 bodies were transferred to Madani Hospital in Karaj and 36 to Ghaem Hospital in Karaj. Medical sources in other cities also reported a high number of fatalities to Iran International.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed protests in Iran in separate calls on Sunday with the foreign ministers of Cyprus and France, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with Republic of Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos,” Pigott said in a readout. “The two leaders discussed the United States’ counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and the protests in Iran.”
In a separate call, Rubio spoke with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. “The two leaders discussed protests in Iran, the recent US law enforcement operation in Venezuela, and diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war,” Pigott said.
