Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 116 people, and more than 2,600 others have been detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of previous unrest in Iran.
Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation, without discussing dead demonstrators, whom it increasingly refers to as “terrorists.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats on Saturday, with Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge.
The statement, carried by Iranian state television, said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran on Friday. (UGC/The Associated Press)
“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”
U.S. President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
The U.S. State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand, joined counterparts in Australia and the European Union to comment on the situation in Iran, commending “the bravery of the Iranian people as they stand up for their dignity and their fundamental right to peaceful protest.”
“We strongly condemn the killing of protesters, the use of violence, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation tactics by the Iranian regime against its own people,” the joint statement says.
Conflicting reports
Saturday marks the start of the workweek in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.
State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the Epic of Khorramshahr by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations.
The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honours Iran’s 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has also been used in videos of women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
This frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran on Saturday. (UGC /The Associated Press)
“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported. “After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.”
That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran’s Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.
“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.
WATCH | Anti-government protests spread across Iran:
Anti-government protests spread in Iran as authorities impose internet blackout
Protests that started over economic discontent in Iran have now evolved into wider demonstrations across the country against the hardline regime. Expert Thomas Juneau says it leaves the government in a vulnerable position.
The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guards and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan.
In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.
The Young Journalists’ Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guards’ all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer was killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another was killed in Gilan. As well, one person was slain in Mashhad.
WATCH | Trump threatens Iranian regime:
Fiery Iran protest images emerge as Trump threatens regime
Fiery images of anti-regime protests are emerging from Iran despite the government cutting phone and internet services. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened action against the regime if it starts killing people, while human rights groups say dozens have already died.
The semiofficial Tasnim News Agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as “operational terrorist teams.” It alleged those arrested had weapons, including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.
State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds of people in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.
More weekend protests planned
Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, although it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but it appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests on Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”
Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A solidarity rally for the Iran protests is seen in Montreal on Saturday. (Quentin Dufranne/The Canadian Press)
Online video purported to show protests ongoing Saturday night as well.
The demonstrations began on Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1 US, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Airlines have canceled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.
Meanwhile, concern is growing that the internet shutdown will allow Iran’s security forces to go on a bloody crackdown, as they have in other rounds of demonstrations. Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest “so we can only fear the worst.”
“They are fighting, and losing their lives, against a dictatorial regime,” Rahmani said.
