US officials have discussed an attack on Iran as a crackdown on protesters rallying against the country’s authoritarian regime continues.

Iran army chief threatens preemptive military action after President Donald Trump warned the U.S. is "locked and loaded" if the regime kills protesters.

Iran’s ‍elite IRGC – which operates separately from army – also says safeguarding country’s security is a ‘red line’.

Iran's army chief threatened preemptive military action due to escalating rhetoric from the U.S. amid ongoing protests against the government.

These gestures belong to a long and checkered tradition of American regime-change adventurism, but they may be very useful in influencing risk calculations within Iran’s military. Iran is not held together by one coercive institution but by two.

Five conditions determine whether revolutions succeed. For the first time since 1979, Iran meets nearly all of them.

Amid a surge of violent protests in Iran, Australia on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave the country immediately, warning

Iran’s armed forces have been placed at the highest level of readiness, with hundreds of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and regular army units on full alert in response to perceived threats from the United States and Israel, state media reported.