Iran police detains four foreign nationals over January protests

Iran and the United States may start talks in the coming days with senior officials from both sides, Guards-linked Tasnim reported on Monday, citing what it described as an informed source.

The source said the time and place of any meeting had not been finalized and that the talks could be held at the level of Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

“The possibility of the start of negotiations between Iran and the United States in the coming days has been confirmed,” the source was quoted as saying.

A senior Tehran city council official warned on Monday that Iran would respond forcefully to any US attack, using blunt language to describe the scale of retaliation.

Parviz Sarvari, vice chairman of Tehran’s city council, said reports about preparing graves for US soldiers were symbolic.

“If they think they can attack Iran, five thousand graves for American soldiers would not be enough and we would turn the whole country into a graveyard for Americans,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.

Sarvari said Iran would strike US bases, ships and any countries that support an attack, adding that Iran’s naval forces would respond if hostilities came from the sea and that ground forces would act if there were a land incursion.

Mehr reported on Saturday that Tehran’s Behesht Zahra cemetery had prepared a site with capacity for several thousand graves for the temporary burial of potential US military casualties.

Iran’s army will hold a military exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday in the western border town of Qasr-e Shirin, local officials said.

The county governor said the drill would take place on Feb. 3 and 4 and warned residents that sounds of explosions would be linked to the exercise.

Qasr-e Shirin lies near Iran’s border with Iraq.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said a senior commander briefed the panel on regional developments, military deployments and the security situation.

Rezaei said the commander told lawmakers Iran has high intelligence oversight of its adversaries and is monitoring all their movements, adding that operational plans are in place for any potential confrontation.

The briefing warned that if the United States “does something foolish” and carries out an attack, it would be drawn into a wider regional conflict, which the commander described as “the greatest advantage for us,” Rezaei said.

He added that US military and economic interests in the region are within Iran’s operational range.

Rezaei said commanders also cited Iran’s performance during a 12-day war, claiming Iran was able to penetrate Israel’s missile defense shield with a success rate of more than 50%.

The commanders told lawmakers Iran’s offensive and missile capabilities have improved since the 12-day conflict and that its abilities exceed what has been publicly demonstrated, Rezaei said.

He said the briefing concluded that any hostile act would be met with a “decisive, crushing, regret-inducing” response in line with orders from the Supreme Leader.

US Senator Tom Cotton said on Sunday that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and warned Tehran to take President Donald Trump’s words seriously.

“President Trump has been clear: Iran’s terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon,” Cotton said in a post on X.

“The Ayatollahs are well-aware of our military’s capabilities and would be wise to take President Trump’s words seriously,” he added.