{"id":506721,"date":"2026-01-10T18:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506721\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T18:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:27:09","slug":"protests-in-iran-near-2-week-mark-as-authorities-intensify-crackdown-on-demonstrators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506721\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests in Iran near 2-week mark as authorities intensify crackdown on demonstrators"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Protests sweeping across Iran<\/a> neared the two-week mark Saturday, with the country\u2019s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world. <\/p>\n

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 65 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation. <\/p>\n

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran\u2019s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an \u201cenemy of God,\u201d a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who \u201chelped rioters\u201d would face the charge. <\/p>\n

\u201cProsecutors 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,\u201d the statement read. \u201cProceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support for the protesters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States supports the brave people of Iran,\u201d Rubio wrote Saturday on the social platform X. The State Department separately warned: \u201cDo not play games with President Trump. When he says he\u2019ll do something, he means it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.<\/p>\n

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the \u201cEpic of Khorramshahr\u201d by Iranian composer Majid Entezami<\/a>, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran’s 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cField reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,\u201d a state TV anchor reported. \u201cAfter a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people\u2019s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath to Khamenei!\u201d a man chanted.<\/p>\n

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard 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. <\/p>\n

The Young Journalists’ Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard\u2019s 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 killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad. <\/p>\n

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as \u201coperational terrorist teams.\u201d It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.<\/p>\n

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work. <\/p>\n

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi<\/a>, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets 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 \u201cclaim public spaces as your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism<\/a> in the past \u2014 particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn\u2019t clear whether that\u2019s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. <\/p>\n

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, 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. <\/p>\n

Airlines have cancelled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran \u201cas a precautionary measure\u201d through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[226893,97,347,64,57,4228,50,80,402,67,132,68,93,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-506721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-226893","10":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","11":"tag-article","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-indictments","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-washington-news","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115872218759680629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}