Protests in Iran continue, and the government there is pushing back. Deaths among the protesters have been reported despite the United States warning against violent actions by the regime. But even as the world awaits America’s response to the deaths, the protesters themselves are fighting back and standing their ground.
Here is the latest from Iran.
From Daily Mail:
Iran defies Trump: Islamic Republic kills 50 protesters in defiance of Donald Trump’s warning he would intervene should there be further bloodshed
Iranian rights group HRANA reported 65 deaths including 50 protesters and 15 security personnel as of January 9, while the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said more than 2,500 people have been arrested in the last two weeks.
It comes after Trump said on Friday it looked as if Iran’s leaders were ‘in big trouble’ and repeated his earlier threat of military strikes if peaceful protesters are killed.
‘It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,’ Trump said.
And speaking on Air Force One earlier this week, he told journalists: ‘We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States.’
Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, with growing calls for the end of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, which ousted the pro-Western shah.
Unrest continued overnight, with state media reporting a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, for which they blamed ‘rioters’.
Protests have spread to more than 220 towns and cities in every one of Iran’s 31 provinces.
From New York Post:
Iran activates ‘missile cities’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the “brave people of Iran” Saturday, while protesters calling for regime change continue to burn Tehran — as fear grows that the death toll has climbed to more than 200.
A doctor told TIME that at least 217 protester deaths have been recorded across just six hospitals in Tehran — “most by live ammunition.”
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader placed the country’s security services on its highest alert Saturday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to activate “missile cities,” or giant underground caches of ballistic weapons, sources told The Telegraph.
“The IRGC’s underground missile cities – which were deliberately kept intact during the 12-day war – are all on high alert,” the insider said, adding that any intervention by the US could trigger an “apocalyptic” war.
From Fox News:
Armed Iran protesters battle police in Tehran streets as Trump warns of forceful US response
Armed protesters clashed Friday with security forces in the Tehranpars neighborhood of Iran’s capital, as nationwide two-week-long anti-regime demonstrations became more violent in the country.
Repeated gunfire could be heard for minutes in cellphone video sent to Iranian TV and shared with Fox News Digital as Iran’s State Security Forces clashed with so-called “rebellious youth.”
In the video, people on the streets were seen running and shouts of “Death to Khamenei!” “Death to the dictator!” “Shame on you!” and “We are all together!” could be heard.
The protests expanded to 190 cities in Iran by Saturday, according to the National Council of Resistance in Iran.
“By defending the demonstrators, the rebellious youths did not allow the flames of the uprising to be extinguished,” dissident politician Maryam Rajavi said in a statement. ” They have shown their determination to triumph over the regime.”
From CNN News:
Iran’s internet blackout has reached the 48-hour mark, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks.
“Iran has now been offline for 48 hours, as telemetry shows the nationwide internet blackout remains firmly in place,” NetBlocks said in a post on X.
A Tehran resident confirmed to CNN today that cell service is unavailable in the Iranian capital.
From CNN News:
Fireworks over Tehran, protesters chanting, “Death to the Dictator” and mosque on fire
Video from social media verified by Reuters on Saturday showed protesters gathered in Tehran’s Punak Square as fireworks exploded and chants of “long live the Shah!” could be heard.
Video from pro-reform news outlet IranWire shows protesters marching on the streets of Tehran chanting, “Death to the Dictator” and “Long Live the Shah” on Saturday night.
On Friday footage from social media verified by Reuters showed Al-Rasool Mosque on fire in the capital.
People in the video could be heard saying, “Saadatabad (West Tehran), Friday 21:40. People have again taken over Saadatabad. The d… agents have escaped. The crowd is coming. ‘Death to the dictator’, ‘Death to Khamenei’,” Reuters reports.
From CBS News:
Iran protests rage for another night and deaths mount as Trump renews warning of possible U.S. intervention
Protests in Iran raged Friday night in the Islamic Republic, online videos purported to show, despite threats from the country’s theocracy to crack down on demonstrators after shutting down the internet and cutting telephone lines off to the world.
The protesters appeared to be taking encouragement from repeated declarations of support by the Trump administration, and by the country’s exiled crown prince, who called on them Saturday to try and overwhelm security forces and seize towns and cities.
An external rights group that relies on information from contacts inside Iran says at least 116 people have been killed in the protests, which began in Tehran in late December as anger over Iran’s ailing economy, but quickly spread and morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused President Trump of having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” in remarks aired Friday on Iranian state TV, as supporters gathered before him shouted “Death to America!”
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