Iran has threatened to strike US military targets should Donald Trump launch an attack after he admitted considering "very strong options" after the Islamic regime killed hundreds of protesters.
The US President warned Iran last week that he would "hit them hard" if protesters continued to be killed.
By Monday, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported the number of civilian protesters killed has dramatically risen, surpassing 500.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vowed to crack down on the protesters, despite President Trump warning if they continue "violently killing peaceful protesters," the United States "will come to their rescue," adding: "We are locked and loaded and ready to go."
On Sunday evening, however, Iran escalated the war of words with Tehran claiming it would retaliate with strikes on US bases in the area.
"In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets," parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said.
The State Department had already told the Supreme Leader in no uncertain terms: "Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he'll do something, he means it."
A communication blackout remains in place across the nation's 31 provinces, as the population calls for an end to the reign of Ali Khamenei.
Iran has threatened to strike US military targets should Donald Trump launch an attack after he admitted considering 'very strong options' following hundreds more protester deaths
|REUTERS
And casualties continue to pile up in the capital. One video appears to show an estimated 180 body bags strewn across the road outside a medical centre.
In one instance, in Malekshahi, protesters were met with gunfire from national security forces when gathered outside of a base run by the revolutionary guards - this quickly became known as "Bloody Sunday".
Additionally, more than 10,681 people have now been detained following arrest.
One unnamed person said: "I saw all the streets covered in bloodstains.
"They were washing the blood of this country’s children off the asphalt with high-pressure water after massacring them.
"There were bloodstains on all the city streets."
Another added that mobile and landline calls are not working, while the regime is sending texts warning citizens not to leave their homes because "armed terrorists are out".
Protesters set cars alight in Iran | GETTY
The death toll linked to the protests has been raised to over 500 - but an internet blackout means the true number could lie much higher
| REUTERSShops are also empty and food is running out.
On Sunday, US foreign secretary Marco Rubio discussed the situation in Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Israel now on high alert for a possible US intervention in Iran.
And tensions escalate in the US, after a lorry rammed into a crowd of anti-Iran protesters in Los Angeles.
Multiple people were hurt after the truck, which bore a message against regime change saying: "No Shah, No Regime. USA: Don't Repeat 1953. No Mullah", hurtled towards protesters in the street.
On Saturday, the son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, vowed to return to Iran after 50 years in exile.
Reza Pahlavi, 65, who was the Crown Prince of Iran until his father's leadership was toppled by the 1979 revolution, which saw then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini install a Shia theocracy.
Mr Pahlavi said he is "preparing to return to the homeland", adding that they will "bring the Islamic Republic and its worn-out and fragile repression apparatus to its knees."
He also called on those in key industrial areas to walk out.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter