Hundreds of protesters have been killed in Iran, according to human rights groups, while videos showing security forces attempting to violently suppress the demonstrations continue to circulate, despite the internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime, which faces a nationwide challenge to its decades-long government.
As the White House assesses how to respond to the crackdown on this popular uprising against the Iranian clerical regime, long hostile to the United States, President Trump threatened “strong” military action against Iran if more protesters are killed, and said aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening that a meeting was “being organized” with Iranian authorities.
“Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We can meet with them,” he said. “But we might have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting.”
Iran, which has threatened to attack Israel and American bases and ships in the region if the US takes military action against the country, indicated it would be open to negotiations. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said on Monday that a communication channel with the United States remains open. “Through this channel, the necessary messages are exchanged,” he said.
Officials will brief Trump on Tuesday on intervention options, according to the Wall Street Journal. These options could range from military strikes and the use of secret cyber weapons to sanctions and aid to meet the protesters’ needs.
Death Toll Rises
The US-based monitoring group Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), with extensive networks across Iran, has documented 495 deaths among protesters, with more than 500 other cases under review. Some Iranian security force members have also been killed. The HRA says more than 10,600 people have been arrested in these 15 days of protests.
“We’re seeing horrific images,” Skylar Thompson, HRA deputy director, told NPR, adding that security forces are using “military-grade weapons” to disperse crowds.
The protests, which began over the collapse of the country’s currency in an economy already battered by international sanctions, have spread and turned into calls for an end to Iran’s theocracy. The HRA says it has documented about 580 protests in more than 185 cities over the past two weeks.
The regime responded by cutting internet and telephone networks across the country last Thursday. Despite the communications blackout, some videos of the demonstrations reached the rest of the world, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters. They show crowds of protesters and, as anger mounts, chants of “death to the dictator” emerged, referring to the country’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Monday, in response to the protests, Iranian leaders gathered large pro-government crowds in the streets. Iranian state television aired footage of protesters filling Enghelab Square, or Islamic Revolution Square, in the capital Tehran. The broadcaster described the rally as an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism.”
State broadcasters portrayed the anti-government protests as actions fomented by the US and Israel and said “armed protesters” were being arrested. On Saturday, Iran’s attorney general warned that anyone participating would be considered an “enemy of God,” a charge that carries the death penalty. Iran’s armed forces said they were ready to “firmly protect national interests.”
Geolocated images at a morgue in Kahrizak, south of the Iranian capital, released by several human rights groups, show bodies wrapped in black body bags on the floor as grieving relatives search for their loved ones among them. A health professional at a Tehran hospital told BBC Persian that protesters were arriving with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
Trump told Fox News last week that he had “warned Iran” and that if the regime shot at protesters, the US would attack Iran “with great force.” “I said it loud and clear, that’s what we’re going to do,” he stated. On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that with its violent response to the protesters, Iranian leaders were “starting to” cross the line that could trigger a US response.
Economic Crisis
Iranian experts say the country’s regime is weaker than ever since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979. The collapsing economy is making life unsustainable for many Iranians. “There are people who can’t buy dairy, meat, or, you know, even beans,” Golnaz Esfandiari, editor-in-chief of Radio Free Europe’s Persian service, told NPR. “On top of that, people are fed up with nearly 50 years of repression, mismanagement, and corruption.”
Iran has recently lost geopolitical standing as the proxy militias it long used as a security buffer and to project influence come under attack. Israel’s war in Gaza has drastically reduced Hamas’s power. And the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, just over a year ago, cut vital supply lines to Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
“Syria was a lifeline for Hezbollah,” said Lina Khatib, visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative. “Syria was the place through which Hezbollah got much of its financial resources as well as weapons from Iran.”
Khatib says the Iranian regime “insistently, for decades, asked the Iranian people to make sacrifices, including economic ones, in the name of the survival of the Islamic Republic,” while pouring countless sums of money into those militias. But the weakening of those militias, combined with Israeli and American strikes on targets inside Iran last June, she says, “has left people feeling like they sacrificed in vain.”
Outside Iran, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the country’s last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, urged Iranians to continue their demonstrations. “Don’t abandon the streets. My heart is with you,” he said in a recorded speech. “I know that soon I will be by your side.” While some videos have emerged showing protesters calling for Pahlavi to take power, it is unclear how widespread that support is.
For now, experts say expectations that the regime might collapse may be premature. While the protests have brought Iranians from diverse backgrounds to voice their grievances, there are no signs yet of defections or dissent in the security apparatus that holds the country’s theocracy together.
Source: npr.org by Ruth Sherlock