Trump warns Iran amid protests, keeps military option open
US President Donald Trump has said Iran is in “big trouble” as protests spread, again warning he could order military strikes.
Speaking on Friday, Trump said, “Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago.”
Asked about his message to Iran’s leadership, Trump said, “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
“If they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” he added.
Trump said any action would stop short of deploying troops. “That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
Protests flare again across Iran amid reports of dozens killed
Major street protests have erupted again in Iran’s main cities, including the capital, Tehran, and the second most populous city Mashhad.
Videos shared widely on social media showed crowds gathering in central areas of the cities.
People in Tehran’s Sadatabad district banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans including “death to Khamenei” — a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a video verified by the AFP news agency showed. Meanwhile, cars honked in support.
Other footage could not be independently verified and the scale of the protests was initially unclear.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it received credible eyewitness accounts that hospitals in Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj were overwhelmed with injured demonstrators.
One activist video showed chaotic scenes in Tehran’s Saadat Abad district, with fires burning as a voice said a mosque had been set ablaze and protesters chanted “Death to the dictator.”
Students reported a heavy security presence, with the student newsletter Amirkabir saying special forces armed with Kalashnikov rifles were stationed about every 10 meters along a main road.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani said unrest on Thursday night saw more than 50 banks and several government buildings set on fire. “More than 30 mosques went up in flames,” he said in a video distributed by the state-linked Mehr News Agency.
Germany, France, UK issue joint condemnation of Iran’s crackdown on demonstrators
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a joint statement condemning the Iranian government’s crackdown on demonstrators.
“We are deeply concerned about reports of violence by Iranian security forces, and strongly condemn the killing of protesters,” the statement said.
“The Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect its own population and must allow freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal,” the statement added. “We urge the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence, and to uphold the fundamental rights of Iran’s citizens.”
Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi: Regime may commit ‘massacre’ amid internet shutdown
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said the Iranian security forces may use the ongoing internet shutdown to carry out a “massacre.”
Internet monitoring organization Netblocks said the internet shutdown in Iran had been going on for over 24 hours.
“What make tonight especially dangerous is the deliberate darkness: internet and phone networks pushed toward collapse so that families cannot find their loved ones, journalists cannot document, and the world cannot witness,” Ebadi posted on Telegram. “A blackout is not a technical failure in Iran; it is a tactic.”
Ebadi said that on Thursday night there were reports that at least 400 people in Tehran “were taken to a single hospital with severe eye injuries caused by pellet gun fire.”
“Even more alarming are reports that security forces attacked hospitals and tried to arrest the wounded,” Ebadi said. “A state that hunts the injured in hospital corridors has crossed a line that no society should accept and no world should ignore.
“To Western governments and international institutions: silence is not prudence. It is permission. Your inaction lowers the cost of murder,” Ebadi said.
Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, currently lives in London, but was born in the western Iranian city of Hamadan, where protests have been reported. She has worked to protect human rights in Iran and founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran.
Iran goes dark: Regime cuts internet amid protests, unrest
The internet is down across most of Iran as the ongoing protests escalate towards a potential turning point in the country’s history.
“This is a matter of survival for the regime,” cybersecurity expert Amir Rashidi told DW.
Iran NGOs report rising death toll as demos continue for 13th day
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said at least 62 people have died as anti-government protests continue into their 13th day.
HRANA said 14 security personnel and 48 protesters had died so far since the start of the protests on December 28.
HRANA also said 2,300 people have been detained in Iran as the government cracks down on the demonstrations.
Meanwhile, another NGO called Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said 51 protesters have been killed so far, including nine children. IHRNGO said the demonstrators have been killed not only in Tehran but also the cities of Mashad, Karaj and Hamedan.
IHRNGO said hundreds more have been injured since the demos began.
“The nationwide internet shutdown is reminiscent of the bloody crackdown on the November 2019 protests when several hundred protesters were killed,” IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said. “Over the past 13 days, the extent of the government’s use of force against protesters has been increasing, and the risk of intensified violence and the widespread killing of protesters after the internet shutdown is very serious.”
Amiry-Moghaddam called on the international community to tell the Iranian government that “the world will not tolerate the killing of protesters.”
WATCH: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatens protesters in Iran
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed anti-regime protests, claiming demonstrators were vandals and saboteurs. The regime has shut down the internet and cut off international calls — and is promising to punish protesters.
Hospital attack highlights ‘brutality’ of Iran clampdown
DW has spoken to a nurse in Iran who has described how the country’s security forces “behaved with savage brutality” when they recently stormed a hospital in Ilam province.
Read more on what happened at the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, western Iran in our report.
Iran’s foreign minister blames US, Israel for fomenting unrest
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has accused Israel and the United States of being behind the growing anti-government protests spreading across the country.
Speaking during a visit to Lebanon, Araghchi said “the Americans and Israelis … are directly intervening in the protests” and are “trying to transform the peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones.”
Araghchi also dismissed the possibility of imminent military action by the US or Israel.
“We believe there is a low possibility of this because their previous attempts were total failures,” he said.
Israel, with the support of the US, waged a brief war against Iran last summer that American and Israeli officials said was aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iran-protests-continue-amid-internet-shutdown/live-75453936