[UPDATE-Day #29] Protest Deaths Top 36,500 as US Fleet Nears and Khamenei Goes Underground

Day #29 – In Brief

• Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that US warships would not weaken Iran’s defense resolve, while a Fox News journalist cited a US official as saying the USS Abraham Lincoln had entered CENTCOM waters.
• Documents reviewed by Iran International’s Editorial Board put the Jan. 8-9 crackdown death toll at more than 36,500, in what it described as the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has moved into a special underground shelter in Tehran after senior military and security officials assessed an increased risk of a potential US attack, two sources close to the government told Iran International.
• Iranians are set to hold gatherings and marches on Saturday and Sunday across multiple countries, from Australia and Canada to Europe and the United States, in support of protests inside the country.
• Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi announced he is ready to help bring about the removal of the Islamic Republic and bring this process to an end, a process that he said will lead to a secular democracy in Iran, if free elections can be held.

This is a developing story that HO1 will continue to monitor.
Check back for updates.

[UPDATE] US dispatches an `armada’ next to Iran, believes republic ready to talk, says President Trump