With the Iranian regime conducting one of the deadliest crackdowns in recent decades despite repeated warnings by President Donald Trump, the U.S. and several Western countries have advised their citizens to leave the country immediately.
The advisory comes amid reports that the U.S. was pulling out hundreds of troops from bases in the region, including the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American military installation in the Middle East. “The Pentagon has begun withdrawing some U.S. troops and assets from a key base in Qatar as a precautionary measure while President Trump weighs whether to take military action against Iran, officials said,” The Washington Post reported.
The British broadcaster Sky News saw this as “a signal the US is readying a strike – or giving itself the option to do so.” Tehran recently threatened to attack Israel, U.S. military bases, and American-owned commercial shipping in the region if President Trump orders a strike on regime targets.
NBC News reported:
The United States has started evacuating hundreds of troops from its largest air base in the Middle East ahead of potential military action by President Donald Trump against Iran, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter.
The troops at al-Udeid Air Base are moving to other facilities and hotels in the region, taking them out of harm’s way should any U.S. attack trigger retaliation from Tehran against American interests, the sources said. (…)
Troops were removed from al-Udeid in June for the Pentagon’s mission against nuclear enrichment sites in Iran, an operation the U.S. dubbed “Midnight Hammer,” which saw Iran launch retaliatory missiles at the base.
After seventeen days of protests, the regime forces, backed by terrorist group Hezbollah and other foreign fighters, may have massacred more than fifteen thousand people, France-based TV channel Euronews reported:
At least 15,000 people may have died in ongoing protests as authorities use detection equipment to locate Starlink satellite devices and prevent news from reaching the outside world, an Iranian activist told Euronews on Tuesday.
Ilya Hashemi, speaking in a video for Euronews Parsi, said internet access in Iran has been completely cut off for over 112 hours, with all available information coming from people who managed to connect via Starlink.
“The situation currently unfolding in Iran is a widespread killing and a disaster,” Hashemi said. “Estimates suggest at least more than 15,000 dead.”
According to the UK-based opposition news website, Iran International, “At least 12,000 people were killed over two nights on January 8 and 9 during protests.”
Despite a near-total internet and phone blackout, images and videos coming from Iran show morgues and hospital grounds overflowing with body bags as desperate relatives search for their missing loved ones.
As the death toll surges, the Khamenei regime is reportedly organizing ‘mass funerals’ of protesters killed by its forces. “According to Iranian state TV, a mass funeral will be held in Tehran today,” Sky News (UK) reported Wednesday. “It is expected to take place at Tehran University under heavy security.”
In a bid to terrorize the population, the regime was staging ‘fast-track’ trials aimed at publicly executing some of the protesters. “Iran’s judiciary chief on Wednesday called for fast-track trials for detained protesters, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat of “very strong action” if the Islamic [R]epublic goes ahead with executions,” France24 TV channel reported.
From sporadic marches against rising food prices in Tehran, within a span of a few weeks, these protests have turned into a full-blown uprising against the regime after 47 years of tyrannical rule. The BBC noted that the revolt has “spread to 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces,” describing it as “one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic revolution.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY