Iran has claimed weeks of anti-government protests across the country have now subsided, as human rights groups estimate at least 600 people have died during the violence.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that the situation had "come under control", in fiery remarks blaming Israel and the United States, without offering evidence.
"That's why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody, to give an excuse to the American president to intervene," Mr Araghchi was reported to have told foreign diplomats in Tehran, according to the Al Jazeera satellite news network.
The Qatar-funded broadcaster has been allowed to report live from inside the country, despite the internet being shut off.
On Monday, Iran's government also called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"
Trump acknowledges proposal for talks
Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump said Iran wanted to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters.
Tehran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — travelled to Iran this weekend.
It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Mr Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defence.
Mr Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyber attacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The military is looking at it, and we're looking at some very strong options," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, local time.
Asked about Iran's threats of retaliation, he said: "If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they've never been hit before."
Mr Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he might have to act first, as reports of the death toll in Iran mounted and the government continued to arrest protesters.
"I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States," Mr Trump said.
"Iran wants to negotiate."
He added: "The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate."
Iran, through the country's parliamentary speaker, warned on Sunday that the US military and Israel would be "legitimate targets" if America used force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll.
A separate Norway-based organisation, Iran Human Rights, said on Monday, local time, that it believed at least 648 protesters had been killed by Iranian security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hardliners within Iran's security services to launch a bloody crackdown.
Protesters flooded the streets in the country's capital and its second-largest city from Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Online videos purported to show more demonstrations from Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
Internet blackouts impose 'veil of secrecy'
As the communications blackout in Iran entered its fifth day, human rights monitors warned the trickle of information coming out of the country may be hiding the true scale of deaths and detainments of protesters.
"We have not just a simple internet shutdown, we have a mobile network disconnection, even landlines are cut off … so all of this is sort of a cacophony of chaos," deputy director of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) Skylar Thompson told the ABC.
"We absolutely fear that numbers are much higher.
"Our numbers are conservative, and that's in part because right now we have this sort of shield, this veil of secrecy that the regime has imposed, but also because we have such strict verification methodology ourselves."
Reports emerging from inside Iran suggested executions for some of the protesters who had been detained could begin in coming days.
"People are being charged with security-related crimes, and these charges carry the death sentence," Mr Thompson said.
"So we're always really concerned about detentions, charges.
"Something that we're watching really closely is also the record-setting, unprecedented number of forced confessions that are airing on state TV."
Fear pervades Iran's capital
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital emptied at the sunset call to prayers each night.
By the Isha, or night-time prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown.
Police sent the public a text message that warned: "Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers."
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
"Dear parents, in view of the enemy's plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people … refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country," the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $US1 ($1.49), as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions, in part levied over its nuclear program.
The protests later intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.
AP/AFP/ABC
