Unrest across Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said Sunday, as Tehran warned it would target U.S. military bases and Israel if President Donald Trump follows through on threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel and recorded more than 10,600 arrests in two weeks of demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over soaring prices before swelling into the largest challenge to Iran’s clerical leadership since 2022. Iran has not released an official toll, and independent verification has been complicated by a nationwide internet blackout in effect since Thursday.
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“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters traveling on Air Force One. He said he was in contact with Iranian opposition leaders and, without elaboration, claimed Iranian officials had called him on Saturday to seek negotiations. On social media, Trump added: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, warned Washington against “a miscalculation.” “Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all U.S. bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” he said.
Amid the blackout, videos posted on social media appeared to show large nighttime marches in Tehran with crowds clapping and chanting. State television aired images of dozens of body bags at the Tehran coroner’s office and described the dead as victims of “armed terrorists,” while showing families gathered outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre seeking to identify loved ones.
Authorities declared three days of national mourning “in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,” state media said. Officials have accused the U.S. and Israel of fomenting unrest and called for a nationwide rally to denounce “terrorist actions.”
U.S. officials said Trump will meet senior advisers Monday to discuss Iran. The president also said he would speak with Elon Musk about restoring internet access inside Iran through the Starlink satellite service.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by reports of violence by Iranian authorities and urged maximum restraint. “The rights to freedom of expression, association & peaceful assembly must be fully respected and protected,” he posted on X.
Israel placed its security forces on a heightened state of alert for the possibility of U.S. intervention, according to three Israeli sources who attended security consultations over the weekend. In a phone call, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed potential U.S. action in Iran, an Israeli source said.
The protests unfold as Iran continues to recover from a 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, during which the United States briefly joined strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israel and a U.S. airbase in Qatar, and Tehran’s regional standing has since been dented by blows to allies including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel and the United States of orchestrating destabilization and importing “terrorists … who set mosques on fire … attack banks, and public properties.”
Supporters of Iranian demonstrators rallied in U.S. cities. In Los Angeles’ Westwood neighborhood, a rental truck drove into a crowd of a few hundred people at a solidarity gathering, KNBC reported. Los Angeles Police Officer Sean Murray said, based on news video, the driver was escorted away by police. He said it was not immediately clear how many people were injured, but that all were treated at the scene.
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent voice in the fractured opposition, urged protesters to stay the course. “Do not abandon the streets,” he wrote on X, praising what he called Iranians’ “indescribable bravery.”
Reuters was unable to independently verify casualty figures or footage from inside Iran due to the communications blackout.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
