Iran unrest deepens; 116 killed as protests challenge theocracy, activists say
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency also gave the new figure and reported that the arrests reached more than 2,600 people. The agency has told the truth in many previous incidents of unrest.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signaled the impending crackdown, despite warnings from President Donald Trump that America could intervene to protect peaceful demonstrators.
Tehran stepped up its threats on Saturday, with Iran’s chief prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone participating in the protests would be considered “enemies of God” and face the death penalty.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Below is AP’s earlier story.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping Iran reached the two-week mark early Sunday; The country’s government accepted the demonstrations, which continued despite mounting pressure, and the Islamic Republic remained cut off from the rest of the world.
With the internet shut down and phone lines cut in Iran, it has become more difficult to gauge demonstrations from abroad. However, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll in the protests has risen to at least 72 people and more than 2,300 people have been detained. Iranian state television shows that it has control over the country when reporting the losses of security forces. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signaled the impending crackdown despite US warnings. Tehran stepped up its threats on Saturday, with Iran’s chief prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone participating in the protests would be considered “enemies of God” and face the death penalty. In the statement made by Iranian state television, it was stated that even “those who aid the rebels” could be charged.
The statement said, “Prosecutors should prepare the ground for a careful and prompt trial and decisive confrontation by preparing indictments against those who want to establish foreign domination over the country by betraying the nation and creating insecurity.” “Trials must be conducted without tolerance, mercy or tolerance.”
US President Donald Trump said on social media, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM perhaps like never before. USA is ready to help!!!” He supported the protesters by saying.
The State Department also warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he will do something, he means it.”
State TV’s split screen highlights challenges facing Iran Saturday marked the start of the working week in Iran, but many schools and universities are holding online classes, Iranian state television reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be working.
State television repeatedly played an impressive, martial orchestral arrangement of Iranian composer Majid Entezami’s “The Epic of Hurramshahr” while covering pro-government demonstrations. The song, which was broadcast many times during the 12-day war initiated by Israel, honors Iran’s liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war in 1982. The protester who cut his hair to protest Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022 was also used in the videos.
Additionally, videos of protesters allegedly firing firearms at security forces have also been published repeatedly.
“Field reports show that peace prevails at night in most cities of the country,” a state television presenter said on Saturday morning. he said. “There was no news of any gatherings or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night, after a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property.”
This was in direct contradiction to an online video verified by The Associated Press showing demonstrations in the Saadat Abad district in northern Tehran, with thousands of people appearing to be on the streets.
“Death to Khamenei!” a man shouted a slogan.
The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to broadcast to the outside world, published security camera footage it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. Here, one protester fired a long gun, while others lit fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.
Protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran, state television’s Young Journalists Club said. It was also reported that a security guard was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer was killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas, a police officer was killed in Gilan and one person was killed in Mashhad.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is also close to the Guard, claimed authorities had detained nearly 200 people belonging to the group it described as “operational terrorist teams”. Those arrested were alleged to be in possession of weapons, including firearms, grenades and gas bombs.
State television also broadcast footage of a funeral attended by hundreds of people in the Shiite theological city of Qom, just south of Tehran.
More demonstrations over the weekend prompted Iran’s theocracy to cut off the country from the internet and international phone calls on Thursday, but allowed some state-owned and semi-official media to broadcast. Qatar’s state-backed Al Jazeera news network broadcast live from Iran but appeared to be the only major foreign broadcast channel that could work.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests on Thursday and Friday, asked demonstrators to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday in his latest message. He called on protesters to carry Iran’s ancient lion and sun flag and other national symbols used under the Shah and “claim public spaces as your own.”
Pahlavi’s support to and from Israel has been the target of criticism in the past, especially after the 12-day war. Demonstrators shouted in support of the Shah at some protests, but it is unclear whether this was in support of Pahlavi or a desire to return to the times before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Online video purportedly shows protests continuing into Saturday night.
The demonstrations began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which traded from $1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy was under pressure partly from international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and turned into calls to directly challenge the Iranian theocracy.
Airlines canceled some flights to Iran due to the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said on Saturday that it had decided to suspend flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” until Monday. Turkish Airlines had previously announced that 17 flights to three cities in Iran were canceled.
Meanwhile, concerns are growing that shutting down the internet would allow Iranian security forces to carry out a bloody crackdown, as in other rounds of demonstrations. Security forces killed hundreds of people at a protest in 2019 “so we can only fear the worst,” said Ali Rahmani, son of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who is imprisoned in Iran.
“They are fighting against the dictatorial regime and losing their lives,” Rahmani said.
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Associated Press writers Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
