Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
In a post to Truth Social, the US president, Donald Trump, has said:
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
It is not clear what Trump means by “help is on its way” but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists yesterday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” that the president was considering, though she added that diplomacy “was always the first option”.
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Updated at 15.01 GMT
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Arrested protester facing execution tomorrow
A picture of Erfan Soltani provided by rights groups Photograph: HENGAW ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
There are reports that one of the many thousands of protesters arrested last week, Erfan Soltani, is facing imminent execution after being tried, convicted and sentenced since his arrest last Thursday.
The 26-year-old was arrested in Karaj, a city just on the north-west outskirts of Tehran, at the peak of the protests before the internet black-out.
The BBC’s Persian language service has spoken to one of his relatives who said: “within just two days, the court issued a death sentence, and the family was told that he is due to be executed on Wednesday”.
Amnesty International has highlighted his case, warning of concerns that Iranian authorities might “once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”.
AFP reports too that Iranian prosecutors today said they would be charging some protesters, whom they called “rioter”s” with offences punishable by death.
Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to monitors. Last year, it hanged at least 1,500 people, Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said.
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More than 12,000 killed in Iran – CBS
US broadcaster CBS now is also reporting a death toll of at least 12,000 people in Iran, potentially as high as 20,000.
CBS says it’s received that number from two sources within Iran through phone calls. Those sources have cited the number being given by activist groups on the ground tallying medical records from hospitals.
The Iranian regime has not provided any official numbers. Reuters news agency cited an unnamed official today saying about 2,000 people had been killed in the past fortnight of protests.
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Updated at 17.25 GMT
US House foreign affairs panel urges Iranians to ‘make regime change inevitable’
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee has also pushed out a strong message on X following Trump’s missive earlier. The tone from US officials has escalated.
“To the Iranian people: Ayatollah Khamanei has butchered your people, made rial the weakest currency in the world, and squandered your country’s resources.
“Make regime change inevitable.”
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There’s been further information coming out today partly because the regime has allowed people to make some phone calls abroad.
Iranians are able to use their mobiles to make calls outside the country but they still can’t receive calls, Associated Press reports citing people in Tehran.
The co-ordinated blackout is still in place. The internet has been down for four days now, and texting services blocked too.
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Verifying the death toll or even just assessing the scale of violence has been so difficult because we’ve only seen snippets of videos from inside Iran.
However, the footage that has reached Western media include horrific scenes such as scores of body bags lining the street outside a morgue in the capital.
Bodies line the streets outside morgue in Tehran as protests continue – videoShare
Increasing reports of death toll spiking into thousands
We are getting more reports of a casualty number in the several thousands – far more than that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
At least 2,000 people have been killed – 1,850 of them being protesters – says the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency – which has tracked Iran protests for more than 20 years. Yesterday the group had said it had only so far identified about 500 casualties. It adds that more than 16,000 protesters have been arrested.
Meanwhile, Iran International has concluded that 12,000 people were killed at protests on 8 and 9 January.
The Persian-language television news channel is based in the UK and has been linked to the Saudi government. It’s based its count on sources in the country and medical data.
Based on available data and cross-checking information obtained from reliable sources, including the Supreme National Security Council and the presidential office, the initial estimate by the Islamic Republic’s security institutions is that at least 12,000 people were killed in this nationwide killing.”
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Updated at 16.19 GMT
European countries summon Iran ambassadors
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Finland and Denmark have all announced this afternoon that they have summoned Iran’s respective ambassadors in their countries to their foreign ministries to formally object to the killings.
The German foreign ministry said: “The Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on its own population is shocking,” while France’s foreign minister called it “state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters”.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “We have summoned the Iranian ambassador in Spain to express our rejection of the violence against demonstrators and to urge respect for the fundamental rights of Iranians.”
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Updated at 15.57 GMT
We know Trump is assessing what, if any, military action he takes to exert pressure on the Iranian regime following its deadly crackdown.
Yesterday White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the president was “unafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary” but that diplomacy was always preferred.
She also told reporters outside the White House:
Airstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president.
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Back to the Trump message where he urges Iranians to keep protesting and “take over your institutions”.
He’s also slammed the lid shut on the prospect of any meetings with Tehran.
Yesterday the Iranian foreign minister had said he’d been in touch with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and that communication channel remained open.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters yesterday that the channel for diplomacy remained open, and Tehran was taking a “far different tone” in discussions with Witkoff.
But Trump today says he’s cancelled all meetings with officials “until the senseless killings of protesters STOPS”.
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Updated at 15.26 GMT
UK announces new Iran sanctions and summons ambassador
Further sanctions against Iran “will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries”, Yvette Cooper has said.
The UK’s foreign secretary said she previously told leaders in Tehran that it would “take time to fully implement the UK sanctions, and during that window, they should start compliance and engagement with the international community and end the deception and obfuscation”.
She added: “Weapons inspectors still have not been given access, and far from changing their approach, we have seen instead a reversion to the most brutal forms of repression on their own streets.
“As a result, I can confirm the UK will bring forward legislation to implement full and further sanctions and sectoral measures.
“The UK has already designated key players in Iran’s oil, energy, nuclear and financial systems.”
She told parliament she had also summoned the Iranian ambassador, after speaking to Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi yesterday.
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Updated at 16.15 GMT
Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
In a post to Truth Social, the US president, Donald Trump, has said:
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
It is not clear what Trump means by “help is on its way” but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists yesterday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” that the president was considering, though she added that diplomacy “was always the first option”.
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Updated at 15.01 GMT
UK minister ‘fearful’ that reports from Iran ‘may underestimate full scale of the horror’ of protest crackdown
The UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, has condemned the Iranian leadership for the “horrendous and brutal killing” of protesters, and said the government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to underline the gravity of the situation.
She called Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protesters the “most brutal and bloody repression against public protests in Iran for at least 13 years”.
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons in London, Cooper said:
I am fearful that the reports that we have seen may underestimate the full scale of the horror as further evidence and testimony reaches the outside world.
Videos are still emerging, including of what appear to be protester corpses lined up in body bags outside a hospital in the outskirts of Tehran.
The Iranian regime has called for a three-day period of national mourning but only for its security forces. No acknowledgment of dead protesters.
Instead, the regime peddles its manufactured narrative of foreign manipulation and seeks to portray peaceful protesters as criminals and terrorists, all the while pursuing a brutal and relentless crackdown on its own people.
You can watch the foreign secretary’s address live here:
Yvette Cooper makes a statement on Iran in the House of Common – watch liveShare
Updated at 14.56 GMT
How do these protests compare with previous demonstrations in Iran?
Iran has been ruled by autocrats since 1979. For the past two decades, there has been wave after wave of protests – often led by students – calling for regime change.
Significant moments include a public outcry over the disputed 2009 presidential election and the crackdown on the 2022-23 “Woman, life, freedom” movement that was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab the wrong way.
Anti-government observers say the protests are growing in size and concentration, but it is difficult to verify those claims without independent observers on the ground.
One noteworthy aspect of this year’s protests has been references to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed shah. Videos have shown crowds calling for the return of the shah, who is based in the US, although it is unclear how widespread the support is for the former monarchy.
You can read more in this explainer by my colleagues Maheen Sadiq, Arnel Hecimovic, Lucy Swan and Oliver Holmes here:
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Updated at 15.19 GMT
As we’ve reported, US President Trump’s announcement of a 25% tariff hit on any country doing business with Iran has already sparked criticism from China, Iran’s leading export partner.
China is by far Iran’s biggest trading partner, buying 77% of its oil exports in 2024, according to the data firm Kpler. It recently ended a tariff war with Trump.
Iran also does major trade with Iraq, UAE, Turkey and India. More than 140 countries still trade with Iran, according to the World Bank, but sometimes only in minuscule amounts.
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What we know about the estimated death toll so far
Some more on these numbers we’re getting on the death toll – it is becoming increasingly clear that most likely, several thousand people have been killed in the protests.
Reuters has spoken to an Iranian government official who says about 2,000 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the unrest – one of the first acknowledgements from authorities of the high death toll.
And while several rights groups say they’ve identified by name hundreds of the killed– the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed 648 people, including nine minors, it’s also warned the last two days that the death toll was likely much higher – “according to some estimates more than 6,000”.
The UN’s human right’s office said this morning it believed hundreds had been killed. It does not have a presence in Iran but said it was receiving reliable information from sources on the ground.
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Updated at 15.52 GMT
EU to ‘swiftly’ propose further sanctions on Iran, von der Leyen says
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc will “swiftly” propose further sanctions on those responsible for the “repression” of demonstrations in Iran.
“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying. I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom,” she wrote in a post on X.
“The European Union has already listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety under its human rights sanctions regime.”
The EU has already adopted a wide-ranging set of sanctions against Iran, mainly in the form of travel bans and asset freezes.
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The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has written an analysis piece exploring the factors the US is considering as it weighs up a potential attack on Iran. Donald Trump’s national security team is expected to hold a meeting at the White House to consider its options later. Here is an extract from Patrick’s story:
A major intervention by Washington, some are warning, will only fuel the fire of an Iranian government narrative that the protests are being manipulated as part of an anti-Islamic plot being led by the US and Israel.
Trump has promised that he will “shoot at Iran” if Iranian security services attack protesters; however, analysts suggested the speed of the crisis meant his team has no developed response ready.
There has been no major movement of US military assets, and many of his closest Middle East partners such as Qatar are urging restraint. Military options and other possibilities were being placed in front of the unpredictable president, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday.
The population density of Tehran – where roughly 12 million Iranians live – means it is hard to mount a targeted campaign from the air without risking many civilian casualties, as the US-Israeli assault in June showed. More than 1,000 Iranians died, creating a new, now apparently dissipated, nationalism.
Donald Trump has said the US was considering “very strong options” to intervene in Iran, having previously threatened to intervene militarily if the regime continued to kill protesters. Photograph: ABACA/ShutterstockShare
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi gave an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday in which he warned the US that his country was ready for war if Washington wants to “test” it.
“If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,” Araghchi said, adding that he hoped the Trump administration would choose “the wise option” of dialogue, while warning of “those trying to drag Washington into war in order to serve Israel’s interests”.
The foreign minister suggested Iran’s military preparedness was greater than it was last June when the US launched strikes on Iran’s three major nuclear sites (which subsequent satellite imagery suggested caused more limited damage than Donald Trump had claimed).
After the US struck Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites last year, Iran carried out a telegraphed strike – which was seen as largely symbolic – on a US military base in Qatar, which did not lead to any deaths among US military personnel.
In his interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi also said that “terrorist elements” had “infiltrated the crowds of protesters and targeted security forces and demonstrators” in Iran.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during an interview with Al Jazeera in Tehran. Photograph: Iranian Foreign Ministry/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Tehran killed protesters. The White House on Monday said the US president was not afraid to use military force, but wanted diplomacy.
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Updated at 12.34 GMT
Spain has summoned Iran’s ambassador to Madrid to express “strong repudiation and condemnation” of the deadly crackdown on protests that has reportedly killed nearly 650 people, the foreign minister said.
“The right of Iranian men and women to peaceful protest, their freedom of expression, must be respected” and “arbitrary arrests must cease”, Jose Manuel Albares told Catalunya Radio.
Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, meanwhile, said she would summon Iran’s ambassador. In a post on X, she said:
Iran’s regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence. This will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran – women and men alike.
I will summon the Iranian ambassador this morning. Together with the EU, Finland is exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people.
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