US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that the United States had an "armada" of warships heading towards Iran, as activists reported that the death toll from Tehran's crackdown on nationwide protests had risen to at least 5,002 by Friday.
After initially appearing to scale back threats of military action in response to the repression of anti-government demonstrations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that American naval forces had been deployed as Washington continued to closely monitor developments in Iran.
He made the remarks while returning to the US following meetings with world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, amid months of unrest across the Islamic Republic.
Although he stressed that he hoped military force would not be required, Trump confirmed that the US had "a big force going towards Iran".
"I'd rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely," he said.
"And maybe we won’t have to use it. We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens."
Trump's announcement of a naval build-up follows his apparent backtracking last week on earlier threats of military action after he said Tehran had given assurances that protesters would not be executed.
He claimed at the time that his warnings had halted executions and repeated that assertion on Thursday, saying Iran had cancelled nearly 840 hangings following his threats. He added that he remained open to dialogue with Iran’s leadership.
Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Trump again expressed hope that further US military action could be avoided but warned that Washington would respond if Iran resumed its nuclear programme.
"They can't do the nuclear," Trump said in an interview conducted in Davos.
"If they do it, it's going to happen again," he added, referring to US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, when Washington joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran.
Ahead of those attacks, the US had ordered a significant military build-up in the Middle East.
Iran was subsequently required to report to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the fate of sites struck by US forces and the nuclear material believed to have been stored there.
The IAEA has not verified Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium for at least seven months, despite recommending monthly inspections.
Trump’s latest confirmation of continued military preparations also comes after US media reports that the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group were ordered to divert from exercises in the South China Sea to the Middle East.
News agency Reuters, citing US officials, reported that the carrier and several guided-missile destroyers are expected to arrive in the region in the coming days.
One official said additional air defence systems were also under consideration, which could prove crucial in protecting US bases from potential Iranian strikes.
Iran protest death toll 'rising'
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Friday that more than 5,000 people had been killed in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests.
According to the group, 4,716 of those killed were demonstrators, 203 were government-affiliated individuals, 43 were children and 40 were civilians not involved in the protests.
It also reported that more than 26,800 people had been detained as part of a widening arrest campaign.
HRANA warned that the true death toll could be significantly higher, citing ongoing difficulties in obtaining information from inside Iran after authorities imposed a nationwide internet blackout on 8 January.
The New Arab could not independently verify these figures amid a near-total internet shutdown.
Iran's government released its first official death toll on Wednesday, stating that 3,117 people had been killed. It said 2,427 of those who died during demonstrations that began on 28 December were civilians and members of the security forces, while the remaining fatalities were described as "terrorists".
Iran's leadership has previously been accused of undercounting or failing to report deaths during periods of unrest.
In a speech on Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of fuelling the unrest as a "cowardly revenge" for their "defeat" in the 12-day war.