Iran’s supreme leader says US attack would escalate into regional war

Trump also said: "I hope they negotiate something acceptable. You could make a negotiated deal that would be satisfactory with no nuclear weapons."

The US Navy currently has six destroyers, one aircraft carrier, and three littoral combat ships in the region.

The protests, which started in late December over economic hardships but morphed into the most acute political challenge to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979, have now abated after repression.

Official numbers put the unrest-related death toll at 3,117, while US-based HRANA rights group said on Sunday it had so far verified the death of 6,713 people. Reuters was unable to independently verify the numbers.

Khamenei likened the protests to a "coup" backed by the US and Israel, saying that the goal of the "sedition" was to attack the centres that govern the country, state media reported.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Alexander Smith and Jane Merriman)