Iran protest deaths hit 5,000. Trump sending ships 'just in case.'

What military assets did Trump deploy to Iran?

What caused the economic crisis in Iran?

Who is Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi's role in protests?

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Thousands have been killed in the ongoing protests in Iran, prompted by record inflation in December and targeting the religious government in place since 1979.

By Jan. 22, the death toll among protesters and security forces had reached 5,0022, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a United States-based organization. The group said another 9,787 deaths are "under investigation." Iran's state media reported 3,117 deaths on Jan. 21.

President Donald Trump, who weeks ago threatened military action if the Iranian government killed peaceful protesters, said on Jan. 22 that an "armada" was headed to the region but "maybe we won't have to use it."

"We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case …I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to the United States from Switzerland.

Protesters first took to the streets on Dec. 28 because world sanctions on Iran were causing an economic crisis. Some have called for a return to the pre-1979 government under Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who is currently exiled and living in the United States.

Trump backed down from his threats to intervene on Jan. 14, when he said: "We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and there’s no plans for executions." But he repeated Jan. 22 his contention that his threats prompted Iran to call off 840 hangings.

"I said: 'If you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit," Trump said Jan. 22. "It'll make what we did to your Iran nuclear (program) look like peanuts.'"

The United States bombed Iran's nuclear program on June 22, prompting a retaliatory attack on a United States military base in Qatar.