DUBAI — Iran said on Monday it is keeping communications open with the United States as President Donald Trump weighed responses to a violent crackdown on protests that have posed one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Trump said on Sunday the U.S. may meet Iranian officials and that he is in contact with the opposition, while piling pressure on the Islamic Republic's leaders, including threatening possible military action in response to violence against protesters. Iran has weathered past waves of protests with crackdowns like the current bloody suppression. But this time the leadership is facing nationwide demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the clerical establishment, and with its regional clout much reduced. "The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the U.S. special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary," foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday. Contacts also remain open through t