Iran issues warnings over protesters, threatens US troops in region as unrest enters second week

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Nationwide unrest challenges Iran’s religion he saw protesters crowding the streets in the country’s capital and second largest city on Saturday night and Sunday morning, skipping two weeks as a monitoring group outside said at least 116 people had died.

Since the internet is down Iran and telephone lines cut, measuring protests from abroad has become increasingly difficult. But according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of contacts in the country, the death toll from clashes between protesters and security forces in Iran has risen slightly, and more than 2,600 others have been arrested in the past two weeks.

As it faces its most significant challenge in years, Iran’s theocratic rulers have issued strong threats against what they say are US- and Israeli-influenced regimes – and they have responded. threats of US intervention by President Trump and their associated threats.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament has warned the US military and Israel will be “legitimate victims” if America attacks the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Trump. Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers stormed the floor of Iran’s parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

Foreigners fear that the blackout will embolden Iran’s security forces to launch a bloody campaign, despite warnings from Mr. Trump that he is willing to attack the Islamic Republic if the protesters are killed.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Iran is looking for FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

“I’m sure that scared a lot of Iranian officials and may have affected their actions in terms of how to deal with the protesters, but at the same time, it encouraged many protesters to come out because they know that the leader of the world’s greatest power supports their cause,” Maziar Bahari, editor of the IranWire news website told CBS News.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed US officials, said on Saturday night that Mr.

Iran’s lawyer says “threat signals” could trigger an attack on US forces

Iran’s state television is broadcasting Sunday’s parliamentary session live. Qalibaf, a hardline former presidential candidate, gave a speech applauding the police and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, especially the all-volunteer Basij, for “standing firm” during the protests.

“The people of Iran must know that we will deal with them in a hard way and punish those arrested,” said Qalibaf.

He went on to directly threaten Israel, the “occupied zone” as he referred to it, and the US military, perhaps with a first strike.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the affected areas and all US military facilities, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not see ourselves as limited to reacting after the fact and will act based on any warning signs of a threat.”

It is unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, especially after seeing its air defenses destroyed during 12 day war in june and Israel, which has also seen the US carry out strikes against its nuclear facilities. Any decision to go to war will rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US military said that in the Mideast “a force is deployed that includes the full range of combat capabilities to protect our forces, our partners and allies and the interests of the US.”

Iran directed US forces to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed on the island of Bahrain.

Iran threatens protesters with death sentences

Online videos posted by Iran, possibly using Starlink satellites, are said to show the encounter in the Punak neighborhood north of Tehran. There, the authorities were seen blocking the roads, with protesters waving their illuminated mobile phones. Others rang bells when fireworks were set off.

Another video purportedly shows protesters marching peacefully down the road while others are honking their car horns on the road.

“The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, temporary, and waterless gatherings, which are a form of response to increased security and pressure,” the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. “At the same time, reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and the movement of security forces in the protest areas, indicating continuous monitoring and security control.”

In Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, which is 450 kilometers northeast of Tehran, the video is said to show protesters confronting security forces. Burning debris and debris could be seen on the road, blocking the road. Mashhad is home to the shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest shrine in Shiite Islam, making the protests there of great importance to the country’s secular state.

Protests were also seen in Kerman, 500 kilometers southeast of Tehran.

Iranian state television on Sunday morning took a page from the protesters, sending their reporters into the streets of several cities to show cool spots with a date stamp displayed on screen. Tehran and Mashhad are not included. They also demonstrated pro-government protests in Qom and Qazvin.

Khamenei has signaled the coming decline, despite US warnings. Tehran stepped up its threats on Saturday, when Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warned that anyone participating in the protests would be considered an “enemy of God,” a crime punishable by death. A statement posted by Iran’s state television said that those who “helped the protesters” would also face charges.

Iran’s democratic regime cut off the country’s internet and international calls on Thursday, although it allowed state-run and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar’s state-funded news network Al Jazeera reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to operate.

Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests on Thursday and Friday, called in his latest message for protesters to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion and sun flag and other national symbols used during the shah’s time to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi’s support for Israel has drawn criticism in the past – especially after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted support for the shah in other protests, but it is not clear whether that is support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The protests began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions imposed on its nuclear program. The protests intensified and escalated into calls challenging Iran’s theocracy.