WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was consulting with his national security team Tuesday about next steps with Iran as he looked to get a better understanding of the number of Iranian citizens who have been killed and arrested in more than two weeks of unrest throughout the country.

Trump said he believes that the killing is “significant” and that his administration would “act accordingly.” He added that he believed the Iranian government was “badly misbehaving.”

But the president said he has yet to receive a confirmed number of Iranians killed in the protests that began late last month, saying he has heard “five different sets of numbers” about the death toll.

Since the protests began Dec. 28, 16,700 people have been arrested and more than 2,000 have been killed, the vast majority protesters, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. The organization relies on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

“The message is they’ve got to show humanity,” Trump said of the Iranian government. “They’ve got a big problem. And I hope they’re not going to be killing people.”

The comments came after Trump earlier in the day announced he was cutting off the prospect of talks with Iranian officials amid a protest crackdown, telling Iranian citizens “help is on its way.”

Trump did not offer any details about what the help would entail, but his remarks come just two days after the Republican president said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic.

But Trump appeared to make an abrupt shift about his willingness to engage with the Iranian government.

“Iranian Patriots, keep protesting and take over your institutions if you can,” Trump said in speech Tuesday at an auto factory in Michigan. “Save the names of the killers and abusers that are abusing you. You are being very badly abused.”

Iran’s chief envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, denounced Trump’s latest comments in a letter to U.N. officials as “interventionist rhetoric.”

“This reckless statement explicitly encourages political destabilization, incites and invites violence and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iravani wrote.

Iranian state media has aired at least 97 confessions from protesters, many expressing remorse for their actions, since the protests began, according to a rights group that is tracking the videos.

Iran alleges these confessions, which often include references to Israel or America, are proof of foreign plots behind Iran’s nationwide protests. Activists say they are coerced confessions, long a staple of Iran’s hard-line state television, the only broadcaster in the country. And these videos are coming at an unprecedented clip.

Trump, in an exchange with reporters during the factory visit, demurred when asked what kind of help he would provide.

“You’re going to have to figure that one out,” he said.