Iran-US tension: UK withdraws some staff from Qatar airbase, says report

Amid concerns over possible air strikes by the United States on Iran, the United Kingdom (UK) is withdrawing some personnel from an airbase in Qatar, the i newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, certain US staff members have been instructed to leave the Al Udeid American military base in Qatar, reported news agency AFPciting two diplomatic sources.

Concurrently, the United States embassy in Saudi Arabia advised its employees on Wednesday to exercise heightened vigilance and steer clear of all military sites.

The friction between Washington and Tehran, which have lacked formal diplomatic ties since 1979’s Islamic revolution, follows President Donald Trump’s warning that Iran could face repercussions for its crackdown on dissent.

During a CBS News broadcast on Tuesday, Trump declared that the United States would intervene if the Iranian government initiated the execution of demonstrators.

"We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," he said.

Iran Says Prepared to Retaliate

In response to Trump’s threats, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander stated on Wednesday Iran remains prepared to retaliate "decisively" against its adversaries Israel and the United States.

The Guards are at "the height of readiness to respond decisively to the miscalculation of the enemy," said IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour in a written statement quoted by state television.

Blaming foreign leaders for the protests across the republic, Pakpour accused US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the "murderers of the youth of Iran".

Previously in June, Iran launched an attack on the Al Udeid facility as a retaliation for American military strikes directed at Iranian nuclear infrastructure.

Ali Shamkhani, a top counselor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cautioned Trump that the base strike served as evidence of "Iran's will and capability to respond to any attack".

A rights group has claimed that at least 3,428 individuals were killed during the violent demonstrations, according to the AFP report.

Human rights monitors noted that under the veil of a five-day digital blackout, Iranian leaders are conducting their harshest crackdown in decades against protests that have fundamentally questioned the clerical ruling system.

The judiciary chief promised accelerated trials for those detained during the unrest as international concerns mounted that the state would utilize the death penalty as a method of intimidation.

In Tehran, the government organized a burial service for over 100 security personnel and various "martyrs" lost in the clashes, which officials claim were exploited by protesters to carry out "acts of terror."