Trump Claims Iran Wants Negotiations After US Threatens Military Intervention

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump claimed that the Iranian leadership had contacted him to "negotiate" after he repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily if Iran parademonstrators.

"The Iranian leaders called" yesterday," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, Sunday, January 11, quoted by AFP.

Trump then admitted that the meeting between the US and Iran regarding this matter was being arranged by both parties.

"The meeting is being arranged... They want to negotiate," he continued.

"We may have to act before the meeting," Trump challenged.

According to data from the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), there are "eyewitness testimony and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet blackout."

"The massacre is happening," claimed CHRI.

Over the past two weeks, Iran has been rocked by a wave of demonstrations. The mass action was initially triggered by Iranian people's protests against rising living costs in the country, then developed into a harsh criticism of the theocratic system that has been in place since the 1979 revolution.

People in Iran were then unable to access the internet. However, a number of news related to the demonstration still spread out of Iran by showing massive demonstrations for three nights.

The Norwegian-based Iranian Human Rights (IHR) NGO said it had confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters with the estimated actual number of victims could be much higher.

"Unverified reports indicate that at least several hundred, and according to some sources, more than 2,000 people may have been killed," the IHR said.