Iran latest: Tehran has 'finger on trigger' after Trump's armada warning

By Adam Parsons, Middle East correspondent

Europe's most prominent rabbi has told Paste BN he holds Iran responsible for the rise of antisemitism in recent years and believes European countries must do much more to support Iranian protesters in overthrowing the Tehran regime.

Speaking on Holocaust Memorial Day, Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said anger against Jews had grown to dangerous levels, regardless of their views on politics, religion or the war in Gaza.

He said there was the prospect of "antisemitic acts against Jews who live anywhere in the world, who have nothing to do with the Israeli government and nothing to do with Israel".

France says it will now support branding Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

Backing the move to include the IRGC on Europe's list of terror groups marks a U-turn in Paris as it has previously been reluctant to do so.

It comes as EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday, where they were already due to sign off new sanctions on Iran.

With France's backing, the decision will likely be approved politically tomorrow.

After the decision was announced, France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot shared a statement adding:

"The unbearable repression of the peaceful uprising of the Iranian people cannot go unanswered. The extraordinary courage they have shown in the face of the blind violence unleashed upon them ‌cannot be in vain."

Set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi'ite clerical ruling system, the IRGC has great sway in the country, controlling swathes of the economy and armed forces, and was put in charge of Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes. 

Speaking of the move, one senior European diplomat told Reuters news agency: "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck and it's good to call that out."

At least 6,000 people, the vast majority protesters, have died in the recent protests in Iran, a human rights group says.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says there has been at least 6,221 confirmed deaths and 42,324 arrests since protests began in bazaars in Tehran on 28 December.

It says it has recorded 656 protests in 201 cities.

Of the dead, HRANA says 5,858 were protesters, 100 under the age of 18, 214 were affiliated with government security forces and 49 were defined as "non-protester civilians".

It adds that more than 17,000 deaths remain under investigation.

For context: In Iran's internet blackout, and with access now controlled by the regime, it has been difficult to get up-to-date figures on the number of dead and arrested during the government's crackdown.

HRANA gathers its figures by using contacts in Iran to verify deaths. Its figures have proven reliable in past conflicts.

The US secretary of state struck a more moderate tone than Donald Trump on Iran when talking to a Senate committee this afternoon.

We brought you some of Marco Rubio's comments earlier (see our 16.40 post), but in his appearance in front of the Foreign Relations Committee he touched on Iran a few times.

'Wise and prudent'

Rubio said there was no plan to attack Iran, but that the recent build-up of military forces in the region was "wise and prudent".

He told the Senators:

"I think it's wise and prudent to have a force posture within the region that could respond and... if necessary, pre-emptively prevent the attack against thousands of American servicemen and other facilities in the region and our allies."

'Far more complex'

Rubio cautioned a regime change in Iran would be "far more complex" than what Washington achieved in Venezuela.

He also told the committee that "no one knows who would take over" Iran if the country's supreme leader were removed.

"I don't think anyone can give you a simple answer as to what happens next."

Donald Trump's "armada" post is the latest development as tensions between the US and Iran have been growing since the start of the year.

It began with protests by Iranian shopkeepers against the rising cost of living at the end of last year.

Here is a rundown of everything that has happened since...

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says the country's armed forces have "their fingers on the trigger to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression".

In a post on social media, Araghchi claims the country has learned "valuable lessons" from the 12-day war last June.

But, in a slightly softer tone, he claims Iran would welcome a nuclear deal that is "mutually beneficial, fair and equitable".

It comes after an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader repeated the threat that any US strike on the country would mean "the beginning of a war".

Ali Shamkhani posted on X, saying:

"A limited strike is an illusion. Any military action by the United States, from any location and at any level, will be considered the beginning of a war, and the response will be immediate, comprehensive, and unprecedented - targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all supporters of the aggressor."

It marks the latest threat from Tehran towards the US, seemingly hoping to stave off any action. 

An Iranian official told Reuters news agency last week that any attack on the country would mean "all-out war".

Internet activity in Iran is picking up today, but users face heavy filtering and intermittent service, with a whitelist system in place.

This essentially means that the regime seems to be controlling what websites people can access.

We brought you news in our 15.25 post that Paste BN had been told some people were able to send and receive messages, with state news claiming service had been restored. 

Monitoring site Net Blocks says:

"Twenty full days after Iran imposed a national internet blackout, most ordinary users still face heavy filtering and intermittent service under a whitelist system despite a significant increase in internationally visible networks and datacenters."

Iran's army chief of staff has warned that the country is "always ready to deal with any threat".

Since Donald Trump's comments that a "massive armada" was heading for Iran, Tehran has tried to posture aggressively.

We've heard from multiple officials that Iran is ready to fight and defend itself, and we've got more along that theme now.

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, chief of staff and deputy coordinator of Iran's army, according to reports in the country's state media, says:

"The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran is always ready to deal with any threat and if something happens, the enemy will surely suffer a lot."

He also warns against any US "show of force".

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he expects protests in Iran to pick back up after having "ebbed" recently.

Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Venezuela, Rubio was asked to clarify what he thought the death toll was from Tehran's violent crackdown on protesters.

"In the thousands for certain," Rubio answered.

Here's what else he said:

• As part of the crackdown, Rubio claimed Iranian snipers had shot and killed protesters, describing it as "horrifying";
• He also believes the regime in Tehran is "weaker than it has ever been" because it cannot address the core complaints of protesters - economic stagnation (see our 16.18 post for more);
• Sanctions have isolated and cut off Iran's economy;
• And while protests have "ebbed" for now, Rubio expects they will "spark up again in the future" unless the regime systemically changes.

Watch Rubio's remarks below...