TEHRAN: Security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters in Iran as people angered by the economic situation in the country kept up their challenge to the authorities and the exiled opposition Thursday urged them to step up their actions. The 12 days of protests have shaken the authorities already battling economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering after the June war against Israel. The movement, which originated with a shutdown on the Tehran bazaar on December 28 after the rial plunged to record lows, has spread nationwide and is now being marked by larger scale demonstrations. Authorities have blamed unrest on &quot;rioters&quot; and the judiciary chief has vowed there would be &quot;no leniency&quot; in bringing them to justice. On Wednesday, an Iranian police officer was stabbed to death near Tehran &quot;during efforts to control unrest&quot;, the Iranian Fars news agency said. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and a key exiled opposition figure, said that the turnout during Wednesday&#39;s protests had been &quot;unprecedented&quot; and called for major new protests Thursday evening. He said in a message on social media he had received reports the &quot;regime is deeply frightened and is attempting, once again, to cut off the internet&quot; to thwart the protests. The HRANA monitor published a video of protesters in Kuhchenar in the southern Fars province cheering overnight as they pulled down a statue of the former foreign operations commander of the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani who was killed in a US strike in January 2020 and is hailed as a national hero by the government. HRANA said according to its count protests had taken place in 348 locations over the last 11 days in all of Iran&#39;s 31 provinces. It also published a video of people massing late at night in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and lighting fires in the streets and also images of security forces using tear gas to disperse a protest in the Caspian Sea town of Tonekabon. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said security forces on Wednesday &quot;opened fire on protesters, used tear gas and violently assaulted civilians&quot; during a protest in the key southeastern hub of Kerman. The protests are being characterized by larger-scale demonstrations, with hundreds marching through a main avenue in the northeastern city of Bojnord on Wednesday in a video verified by AFP. Demonstrators are repeating slogans against the Iranian leadership including &quot;this is the final battle, Pahlavi will return&quot; and &quot;Seyyed Ali will be toppled&quot;, in reference to Iran&rsquo;s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. IHR said on Tuesday at least 27 protesters including five teenagers under the age of 18, have been confirmed to have been killed in a crackdown on the protests, warning the death toll will climb as more killings are verified.

Middle East

The 12 days of protests have shaken the authorities already battling economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering after the June war against Israel.

Iran protests intensify amid economic crisis and mounting deaths

TEHRAN: Iran&#39;s military chief warned on Wednesday that Iran will not stand by and allow itself to be threatened by outside powers, after the United States and Israel backed anti-government protests. &quot;The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the escalation of hostile rhetoric against the Iranian nation a threat and will not tolerate its continuation without responding,&quot; General Amir Hatami said, according to the Fars news agency. Hatami, commander of the Iranian army but not Iran&#39;s most senior officer, warned that &quot;if the enemy makes a mistake&quot; Iran&#39;s response would be more robust than during last June&#39;s 12-day war with Israel. In recent days, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran &#39;if demonstrators were killed&#39;, while Israel&#39;s Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the protests. On December 28 merchants in Tehran staged a protest against soaring prices and the collapse of the rial, triggering a wave of similar actions in several cities, some of them deadly. The demonstrations have yet to reach the scale of a 2022 to 2023 movement, let alone that of the mass 2009 street protests that followed disputed elections. But the economic protests have attracted international attention, including from the leaders of the Islamic republic&#39;s international foes. &quot;We&#39;re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they&#39;re going to get hit very hard by the United States,&quot; Trump told reporters on Sunday. Netanyahu, meanwhile, told Israel&#39;s cabinet: &quot;We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people and with their aspirations for freedom, liberty and justice.&quot; On Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry accused Trump and Netanyahu of inciting violence and trying to &nbsp;undermine Iran&#39;s national unity. The war in June began with an unprecedented Israeli attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. The United States briefly took part in the strikes, hitting three major Iranian nuclear sites.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if demonstrators were killed, while Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for the protests.

Iran army chief threatens response to Trump and Netanyahu's 'threats'

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: At least 20 people, including three children, have been killed during anti-government protests across Iran, according to the United Nations and international human rights groups, as demonstrations over soaring prices and economic stagnation spread nationwide. Death toll and casualties Several international human rights organizations, including the UN, have documented multiple casualties during the protests. Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), a Norway-based organization, confirmed at least 19 protesters&#39; deaths from gunfire and violence by security forces across seven provinces during the first week of unrest. The group reported that authorities deployed military-grade weapons, including AK-47 rifles, to suppress demonstrators, with one particularly deadly incident occurring on January 3 in Malekshahi County, Ilam Province, where five protesters were killed by live ammunition. Meanwhile, the UN reported at least 20 deaths, including three children, with hundreds detained. Protests spread across the country While a UN spokesperson reported that demonstrations had occurred in a &quot;large majority of Iranian provinces,&quot; AFP documented demonstrations in at least 45 cities spanning 23 provinces. Meanwhile, other international media outlets reported broader participation, with protests reaching approximately 250 separate locations across the country. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), through its Iranian service Radio Farda, provided the most comprehensive tally as of January 6, reporting that protests had extended to at least 78 cities and 222 locations across 26 of Iran&#39;s 31 provinces. Iranian state-affiliated media outlets, including Fars News Agency and Mizan News Agency, have also reported on the protests. Describing the protests as &quot;limited&quot; or &quot;sporadic,&quot; these outlets reported demonstrations in several Tehran districts, including Narmak, Tehransar, and Naziabad, as well as in other cities such as Lordegan, Azna, and Qom. UN chief urges caution Earlier, on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Iranian authorities to respect demonstrators&rsquo; right to protest peacefully. The UN chief &quot;underscores the need to prevent any further casualties,&quot; his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. &quot;He also calls on the authorities to uphold the right of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,&quot; and that &quot;all individuals must be allowed to protest peacefully and express their grievances.&quot;

At least 20 people, including children, have been killed in nationwide protests over high prices, rights groups say, as demonstrations spread across the country.

Iran: Protests spread to over 26 provinces as rights groups report rising death toll

TEHRAN: Sporadic protests broke out in the Iranian capital on Saturday evening, according to local media, which also reported intensifying clashes in the west of the country.&nbsp;The demonstrations first kicked off last Sunday when shopkeepers staged a strike over economic concerns, but have since spread in size and scope, with protesters making political demands.&nbsp;The protests have affected, to varying degrees, at least 40 different cities, mostly medium-sized and located in the country&#39;s west, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements and media reports.&nbsp;At least 12 people have been killed, including members of the security forces, according to a toll based on official reports. &#39;Limited protests&#39;Protests Saturday evening in Tehran were described as &quot;limited&quot; by the Fars news agency, which said they were &quot;generally made up of groups of 50 to 200 young people.&quot;&nbsp;Tehran&#39;s population is about 10 million.&nbsp;Demonstrations were reported in the districts of Novobat and Tehran Pars in the capital&#39;s east; Ekteban, Sadeghieh and Sattarkhan in the west; and Naziabad and Abdolabad in the south, Fars said.&nbsp;Demonstrators shouted slogans including &quot;death to the dictator,&quot; Fars said, though no major incidents were reported beyond some stone throwing and rubbish bins being set alight. The news agency said the situation in Tehran &quot;contrasted with an intensification of violence and organized attacks in other regions, notably the country&#39;s west.&quot; Security personnel killedIn Malekshahi, a county of about 20,000 residents including a sizeable Kurdish population, a member of the security forces was killed in clashes, Iranian media reported Saturday.&nbsp;&quot;Rioters attempted to storm a police station,&quot; Fars said, adding that &quot;two assailants were killed.&quot; Local media&#39;s accounting of the protests is not exhaustive, and state-run outlets have downplayed their coverage of the demonstrations, while videos flooding social media are often impossible to verify.

Demonstrations are taking place in the districts of Novobat and Tehran Pars in the capital's east; Ekteban, Sadeghieh and Sattarkhan in the west; and Naziabad and Abdolabad in the south.

Iranians protest in Tehran as clashes grip country's west: local media

PARIS: At least four people were killed in western Iran on Saturday in clashes between protesters and security forces, two rights groups said, accusing Revolutionary Guards of opening fire on demonstrators. Protests carried on in several cities nationwide throughout Saturday, the seventh day of a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living in the Islamic Republic. The protests are the most significant in Iran since a 2022-2023 movement that authorities quelled with a crackdown that left hundreds dead and thousands arrested, according to activists. The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said that Revolutionary Guards used live fire against protesters in the Malekshahi district of the western Ilam province, killing four members of Iran&#39;s Kurdish minority. The group said it was checking reports that two other people had been killed, while it said dozens more were wounded. The Iran Human Rights NGO, also based in Norway, said at least four people were killed and 30 wounded after &quot;security forces attacked the protests&quot; in Malekshahi. It posted footage of what appeared to be bloodied corpses on the ground. It was not possible to immediately verify the footage or the toll. In Iran, the media evoked the clashes with the Mehr news agency, saying a Revolutionary Guard was killed after &quot;rioters&quot; attempted to enter a police station. The protests have affected, to varying degrees, at least 30 different cities, mostly medium-sized, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements and media reports. At least 12 people have been killed since Wednesday in clashes, including members of the security forces, according to a toll based on official reports. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency monitor said that over the past seven days, protests have been recorded at least 174 locations in 60 cities across 25 of Iran&#39;s 31 provinces. During this period, at least 582 individuals were arrested, and at least 15 protesters have been killed, it said. It was not immediately possible to verify the figures. The protests began last week following a shutdown by merchants in the Tehran bazaar, an influential economic hub, and spread to other regions as well as universities. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said Friday that &quot;reports indicate growing confrontation between protesters and security forces&quot; and warned the violent response witnessed during the 2022-2023 movement &quot;must not be repeated.&quot;

Protests are the most significant in Iran since a 2022-2023 movement that authorities quelled with a crackdown that left hundreds dead and thousands arrested; Norway-based Hengaw rights group says that Revolutionary Guards used live fire against protesters in the Malekshahi district of the western Ilam province, killing four members of Iran's Kurdish minority.

Articles tagged with "Iran protests"

Iran protests intensify amid economic crisis and mounting deaths

Iran army chief threatens response to Trump and Netanyahu's 'threats'

Iran: Protests spread to over 26 provinces as rights groups report rising death toll

Iranians protest in Tehran as clashes grip country's west: local media

At least four killed in protest clashes in western Iran: rights groups

Iran protests intensify amid economic crisis and mounting deaths