By Parisa Hafezi, Rami Ayyub and Maayan Lubell

(Reuters) Jan 12 - President Donald Trump said the U.S. may meet Iranian officials and was in contact with the opposition, as he weighed a range of strong responses including military options to escalating unrest posing one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution

Trump said Iran called to negotiate its nuclear programme, which Israel and the U.S. bombed in a 12-day war in June. Trump has warned Iran's leaders that the United States would attack if security forces open fire on protesters.

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.

The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group.

By Rachael Levy

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he plans to speak with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk about restoring internet in Iran, where authorities blacked out service amid ongoing anti-government protests.

"He's very good at that kind of thing, he's got a very good company," Trump told reporters in response to a question about whether he would engage with Musk's SpaceX company, which offers a satellite internet service called Starlink that has been used in Iran.

Jan 11 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Sunday he is weighing a range of responses to escalating unrest in Iran, including possible military options, as massive protests continue to roil the country.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Tom Hogue)

By Parisa Hafezi, Rami Ayyub and Maayan Lubell

DUBAI/JERUSALEM, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday, as Tehran threatened to target U.S. military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.

With the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.

By Matt Tracy

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Some U.S. lawmakers in both major parties on Sunday questioned whether military action against Iran is the best approach for the United States as Iranian authorities face growing turmoil.

U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days has left open the possibility of American intervention in Iran, where the biggest anti-government protests in years have led to the Revolutionary Guards blaming unrest on terrorists and vowing to safeguard the governing system.

Demonstrators rallied in London, Paris and Istanbul on Sunday in support of protests in Iran that have been countered with a deadly crackdown by the country's security forces.

London demonstrations, initially in front of the Iranian embassy and later in front of the British prime minister's residence, grew to several thousand as the day progressed.

"We want revolution, change the regime," Afsi, a 38-year-old Iranian, who declined to give her last name, told AFP at the rally in front of Downing Street.

Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to be briefed by senior officials in his administration on Tuesday on specific options to respond to the protests in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing U.S. officials.

The meeting will be a discussion about possible next steps including military strikes, deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military and civilian sites, placing more sanctions on Iran's government and boosting anti-government sources online, the Journal reported.

The White House said it had no comment on the report.

DUBAI, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Deaths from two weeks of protests in Iran have risen to more than 500, U.S.-based rights group HRANA said on Sunday.

Its latest spreadsheet - based on activists inside and outside Iran - showed 490 protesters and 48 security personnel killed, plus 10,000 arrests.

Reuters could not independently confirm the figures and Iranian authorities have not given tolls from the unrest it blames on "rioters" being encouraged by foreign powers.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom)

Residents of a Kurdish neighbourhood in Syria's second city of Aleppo passed through government checkpoints Sunday to find blackened walls, destroyed vehicles and debris-littered streets as they returned home after days of deadly clashes.

While they picked up the pieces in the city's Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, the city's only other Kurdish-majority district Sheikh Maqsud still remained off limits after suffering the worst of the fighting.

Many locals like wheelchair-bound Abdul Qader Satar returned to Ashrafiyeh on Sunday to inspect their homes after days of violence.