Fears grow Trump will strike Iran after US moves ‘armada’ to Middle East

President Donald Trump has warned that an “armada” of US military ships is sailing towards Iran, as the death toll from the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters surpassed 5,000, according to a human rights group.

“We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case,” the American leader told reporters on Air Force One on his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely... We have an armada... heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

The US military moved more assets towards the Middle East after protests began in Iran late last month. These included the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships travelling with it from the South China Sea, according to the Associated Press.

Human rights groups shared an alarming update on the death toll from the protests on Friday. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a US-based group, said that the 5,002 people killed in protests comprised 4,716 protesters, 203 government-affiliated individuals, 43 children and 40 civilians not taking part in demonstrations.

The group added that at least 26,541 people had been arrested. The country is under the most comprehensive internet blackout in its history, with almost no coverage for over two weeks.

Mr Trump, who has been busy with negotiations over the acquisition of Greenland after backing down on threats to invade the territory, said that he had engaged with multiple rounds of talks with Iran over its nuclear programme prior to its attacks on facilities in June last year conducted alongside Israel.

He threatened the Islamic Republic with military action that would make the 12-day war “look like peanuts”. “They should have made a deal before we hit them,” he added.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said he prevented the execution of 800 people detained in the protests. On Friday, Iran's top prosecutor Mohammad Movahedi strongly denied that in comments carried by the judiciary's Mizan news agency. "This claim is completely false; no such number exists, nor has the judiciary made any such decision," Mr Movahedi said.

Protesters, including 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, were reported to have been sentenced to death by hanging. The president had previously promised demonstrators that “help is on its way” as he urged them to continue protesting.

Iranian state TV has suggested that the death toll reported by activists is exaggerated and released the first official death toll from recent protests, saying that 3,117 people were killed in the unrest.

In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi promised a powerful response if the country came under attack.

“Unlike the restraint Iran showed in June 2025, our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack,” he wrote.