Iran president says any attack on supreme leader would be declaration of war

Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years.

Monitor Netblocks said late on Sunday that "traffic levels have fallen after a brief, heavily filtered restoration of select Google and messaging services in Iran."

Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into "riots" and blamed foreign influence from Iran's arch-foes, the United States and Israel.

Trump, who joined Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June, had repeatedly threatened new military action against Tehran if protesters were killed.

While Washington appeared to have stepped back, Trump hit out at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with Politico on Saturday, saying it was "time to look for new leadership in Iran."

"The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people," Trump said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday warned on X: "An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation."

As leaders in Washington and Tehran have exchanged barbs, Iranian officials have said calm has been restored in the streets.

Security forces with armoured vehicles and motorcycles were seen in central Tehran, according to AFP correspondents.

'Cannot just stay silent' 

Schools reopened on Sunday after a week of closure.

Pezeshkian, meanwhile, told a cabinet meeting that he "recommended to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council that internet restrictions be lifted as soon as possible."

Some users reported access to WhatsApp, while outgoing international calls had resumed since Tuesday, and text messaging was restored on Saturday.

Fars News Agency on Sunday reported that the chief executive of Irancell, Iran's second-largest mobile phone operator, was dismissed for failing to comply with the government's decision to shut down the internet.

Solidarity demonstrations have continued in multiple cities in recent days, including in Berlin, London, and Paris.

'Not be spared' 

On Saturday, Khamenei said "a few thousand" people had been killed by what he called "agents" of the United States and Israel, and Iranian local media have reported multiple deaths among security forces.

Khamenei said authorities "must break the back of the seditionists," as local media have reported thousands of arrests, and rights groups have estimated up to 20,000 people have been detained.

On Sunday, judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir reiterated that swift trials would be held, warning that some acts warranted the capital offence of "moharebeh," or "waging war against God."

"All those who played a decisive role in these calls for violence, which led to bloodshed and significant damage to public finances, will not be spared," he said.

Alarm has grown over the threat of capital punishment against arrested protesters, even as Trump said Iran had called off hundreds of executions.

Analyst Arif Keskin cast doubt on Trump's claim, saying "the Iranian leadership sees executions... as an effective tool to end protests, prevent them and suppress them".