Iran asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking Iran,” a senior Iranian official said
People attend the funeral of the security forces who were killed in the protests that erupted over the collapse of the currency’s value in Tehran, Iran, January 14, 2026. Photo: Reuters
The United States is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
With Iran’s leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deter US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was pulling some personnel from key bases in the region as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.
Britain was also withdrawing some personnel from an air base in Qatar ahead of possible US strikes, the i newspaper reported. The British defence ministry had no immediate comment.
“All the signals are that a US attack is imminent, but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes. Unpredictability is part of the strategy,” a Western military official told Reuters later on Wednesday.
Two European officials said US military intervention could come in the next 24 hours. An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear.
Qatar said drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest US base in the Middle East, were “being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions”.
Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave the base, though there were no immediate signs of large numbers of troops being bussed out to a soccer stadium and shopping mall as took place hours before an Iranian missile strike last year.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against clerical rule.
Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest, which began two weeks ago as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and rapidly escalated in recent days, as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed Iran’s system of Shi’ite clerical rule.
An Iranian official has said more than 2,000 people have died. A rights group put the toll at more than 3400.
The development comes as Iran warned US allies in the Middle East it will strike US bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump’s threats to intervene in support of protesters.
Demonstrators have defied the authorities’ zero-tolerance for dissent by turning out in protests all around the country, even as authorities insist they have regained the upper hand.
According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene but the scope and timing of this action remains unclear, an Israeli official said.
Read: Trump warns Iran of ‘very strong action’ if protestors hanged
The Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking Iran”.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.
The official added that direct contacts between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, reflecting mounting tensions.
A second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of regime collapse or US intervention in Iran, an arch-foe with which Israel fought a 12-day war last year.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” he said.
He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring “help is on the way” but without giving details.
Tehran vows fast trials over protests
Meanwhile, Iran vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over a massive wave of protests, after US President Donald Trump threatened “very strong action” if the Islamic republic goes ahead with hangings.
In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for over 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have branded as “riots” while accusing protesters of waging “acts of terror”.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly”, in comments broadcast by state television.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself.
The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.
IRAN holds contacts with Turkiye, UAE, Qatar
Iranian state media reported that the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar and Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. The countries are all US allies.
Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that “calm has prevailed” and that Iranians were determined to defend their sovereignty and security from any foreign interference, state media reported.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout.
US-based HRANA rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated individuals. An Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,000 people had been killed.
Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, blaming violence on people it calls terrorists who have attacked security forces, mosques and public property.
IRAN’S Chief Justice urges swift actions
Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran’s chief justice said speed in judging and penalizing those “who beheaded or burned people” was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.
HRANA reported 18,137 arrests so far.
Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, was to be executed on Wednesday.
Hengaw told Reuters on Wednesday it had not been able to confirm whether Soltani’s sentence had been carried out due to the internet and communications shutdown. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Pro-government rallies were held in Iran on Monday, a show of loyalist support for the clerical Iranian establishment. So far, there have been no signs of fracture in the security forces that have quelled other bouts of protest over the years.
While Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest unrest is taking place with Tehran still recovering from last year’s war, and with its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.
Asked what he meant by “help is on its way”, Trump told reporters on Tuesday they would have to figure that out. Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening.
Trump on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran – a major oil exporter.
The US State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now, including by land through Turkey or Armenia.
