The Iranian foreign minister said on Monday that the country was prepared for war but was also ready to negotiate, after President Donald Trump hinted at possible US military action to stop a deadly crackdown by Iran’s authorities against anti-government protests in the country.

“We are not looking for war, but we are prepared for war — even more prepared than the previous war,” Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, told a conference of foreign ambassadors in Tehran, the capital, that was broadcast by state television. He appeared to be referring to the 12-day war with Israel this past June, which the US joined to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We are also ready for negotiations, but negotiations that are fair, with equal rights and mutual respect,” Araghchi added.

Iran also said on Monday that communication channels were open between Aragchi and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East.

“Iran has never left the negotiating table, but it will not engage in one-sided negotiations,” Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said at a news conference on Monday.

The signalling from the Iranian authorities that they were open to diplomacy with the US came after Trump hinted on Sunday that he might act militarily to curb the Iranian government’s repression of widespread demonstrations.

Iran has been roiled in recent weeks by protests that were sparked by economic hardship but that have snowballed into a serious challenge to the rule of its authoritarian government.

Trump was briefed in recent days on new options for military strikes in Iran but had not made a final decision, according to multiple US officials familiar with the matter.

“We are looking at it very seriously, the military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, without providing details. He added: “I’m getting an hourly report, and we’re going to make a determination.”

Trump later said that “the leaders of Iran” had called him on Saturday and that they wanted to negotiate, although it was unclear to whom he was referring and what ground negotiations would cover. Talks on Iran’s nuclear program have stalled in recent months.

“I think they are tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said, adding that “a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening.”

On Sunday, human rights groups monitoring the uprisings in Iran began reporting a sharp rise in the death toll as accounts of a violent repression broke through a communications blackout imposed by the Iranian authorities.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group raised its toll for the protests to 192, while the Human Rights Activists News Agency, based in Washington, said it had confirmed the deaths of nearly 500 protesters and almost 50 security personnel.

Videos published on Iranian social media channels on Sunday and verified by The New York Times showed dozens of what appeared to be black body bags, lined up on the ground or on stretchers outside the Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, a city on the outskirts of Tehran.

Trump had repeatedly threatened lethal action against the Iranian government if it killed protesters. Asked on Sunday whether Iran’s leaders had crossed a red line, Trump replied: “It looks like it. There seems to be some people killed who weren’t supposed to be killed.”

New York Times News Service