- The rights group reports over 500 deaths during two weeks of unrest.
- Internet blackout continues, limiting the flow of information across Iran.
- Iran summons UK envoy to Foreign Office over embassy protest.
The Iranian government on Sunday declared three days of national mourning for “martyrs”, including members of the security forces, who were killed in two weeks of protests, state television said.
The government described the fight against what it described as “riots” as an “Iranian national resistance struggle against America and the Zionist regime”, using the clerical leadership’s term for Israel, which the Islamic Republic does not recognize.
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday called on people to join a “national resistance march” of nationwide demonstrations to condemn the violence, which the government said was perpetrated by “urban terrorist criminals”, state television reported.
The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have evolved into a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution. They have already lasted two weeks.
The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which was backed by the United States.
Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 72 hours, according to monitor Netblocks. Activists have warned that the shutdown limits the flow of information and that the actual toll could be much higher.
The death toll reaches 500: Rights group
Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said Sunday, as Tehran threatened to attack US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
With the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used against protesters.
According to its latest figures – from activists inside and outside Iran – US rights group HRANA said it had confirmed the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.
Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.
Trump to meet with senior advisers
Trump was due to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official said Reuters on Sunday. The The Wall Street Journal had reported that the options included military strikes, the use of covert cyber weapons, the expansion of sanctions and the provision of online assistance to anti-government sources.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation”.
“Let’s be clear: In the event of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all American bases and ships will be our legitimate targets,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.
Iran’s unrest comes as Trump flexes American muscle internationally after ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and debating acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.
Iranian President Pezeshkian said Israel and the United States were behind destabilization and that Iran’s enemies had brought “terrorists … who set fire to mosques … attacked banks and public properties”.
“Families, I am asking you: Do not allow your young children to join rebels and terrorists who decapitate people and kill others,” he said in a television interview, adding that the government was ready to listen to the people and to solve economic problems.
Iran summoned Britain’s ambassador to the Foreign Office on Sunday over “interventionist comments” attributed to the British foreign secretary and a protester who removed the Iranian flag from London’s embassy building and replaced it with a style of flag used before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Britain’s Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iranian state television broadcast funeral processions in western cities such as Gachsaran and Yasuj for security personnel killed in protests.
State TV said 30 members of the security forces would be buried in the central city of Isfahan and that another six were killed by “rioters” in Kermanshah in the west.
