Davos [Switzerland], January 21 : People of Iranian nationality staged a demonstration outside the venue of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, urging the international community to continue speaking about developments in Iran.
A protester said, "Don't stop talking about Iran. Over 18,000 unarmed people are killed."
The protest came as tensions involving Iran continue to draw international attention, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning the United States that Tehran will be "firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack", a day after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats against Iran.
According to Al Jazeera, Araghchi issued the warning in an opinion article published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
"Our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack," he wrote, referring to the 12-day war launched by Israel on Iran in June last year.
The foreign minister said this was not a "threat", but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war".
He added that "an all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House. It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe".
Against this backdrop, Iran shut its airspace last week, likely in anticipation of a US attack, while diplomats from Middle East countries, particularly from Gulf Arab countries, lobbied Trump not to attack.
Ship-tracking data showed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been in the South China Sea in recent days, on Tuesday passed through the Strait of Malacca, a key waterway connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
While US defence officials have not confirmed the carrier strike group's destination, its presence in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away from moving into the Middle East region.
According to Al Jazeera, Araghchi's comments came a day after Trump repeated a warning that Iran would be wiped "off the face of this earth" if it ever succeeded in assassinating the US leader.
"I have very firm instructions. Anything happens, they're going to wipe them off the face of this earth," Trump said in a News Nation interview that aired on Tuesday.
As the rhetoric escalated further, Iranian General Abolfazl Shekarchi was quoted as warning that Tehran would respond strongly if any threat was directed at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Trump knows that if a hand of aggression is extended toward our leader, we will not only sever that hand, and this is not a mere slogan," Iranian state media reported, quoting Shekarchi. "But we will set their world on fire and leave them no safe haven in the region."
Trump had issued a similar warning to Iran a year ago, shortly after returning to the White House, when he told reporters, "If they do it, they get obliterated."
Meanwhile, Iran continues to face internal turmoil following violence during some of the biggest anti-government protests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
According to Al Jazeera, human rights groups are working to confirm the number of people killed during the protests. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll had reached at least 4,519, while more than 26,300 people have been arrested.
On Sunday, an Iranian official in the region said the authorities had verified at least 5,000 people had been killed in protests, including about 500 security personnel, blaming "terrorists and armed rioters" for killing "innocent Iranians".
Iranian authorities have accused foreign powers of fomenting unrest, alleging that longstanding geopolitical rivals, mainly Israel and the US, are directing instability and operations on the ground.
Videos that have surfaced from Iran despite an internet shutdown appear to show security forces repeatedly using live fire to target apparently unarmed protesters, something unaddressed by Araghchi, Al Jazeera reported.