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Flames engulf cars on a street in Tehran, Iran, amid a standoff between protesters and security forces. (Reuters/Yonhap)

US President Donald Trump said he is considering “some very strong options” as he condemns Iran for its bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Human rights groups say hundreds of protestors have died so far.

The demonstrations, which are seen as the greatest crisis faced by the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979, threaten to plunge the Middle East into chaos once again.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based group of Iranian activists, reported Sunday that at least 544 people had died and more than 10,600 had been arrested in the protests, which began on Dec. 28. Of the dead, 483 were civilian protestors and 47 were soldiers and other members of law enforcement.

Iran Human Rights, a nonprofit based in Norway, said that while 192 deaths had been confirmed as of Monday, the death toll could be as high as 2,000.

Since the Iranian government shut off the internet and mobile networks on Jan. 8 and has not announced the number of fatalities, the accuracy of these reports is uncertain.

According to some reports, most of the dead at some hospitals in Tehran suffered gunshot wounds.

As the bloodshed in Iran intensifies, the US has been exploring concrete action.

“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking [. . .] at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

But Trump also raised the possibility of dialogue.

“Yesterday, the leaders of Iran called; they want to negotiate,” Trump said, adding that “a meeting is being set up.”

Trump added that “we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting,” suggesting he is leaning toward taking military action.

The Trump administration was reportedly planning to discuss concrete measures in a high-level meeting on Tuesday.

The Iranian protestors, who took to the streets amid an economic crisis, are demanding the end of the theocratic government that has ruled Iran for decades and calling on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down.

AFP reported that some Iranian citizens have been waving the flag of the Pahlavi dynasty, which ruled Iran before the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian government claims that the demonstrations are being pacified.

Al Jazeera reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told foreign diplomats on Monday that the “situation is now under total control.”

He claimed that the protestors had “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for the Trump administration to intervene.

“We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” Araghchi commented.

The Iranian government describes the demonstrations as “riots” and says its crackdown represents a struggle by the Iranian state against the US and the “Zionist regime,” meaning Israel.

By Cheon Ho-sung, staff reporter; Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporter; Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]