US and Israel discuss strikes as ‘almost 200’ killed

Pezeshkian also said his government was determined to resolve the Iranian people’s economic problems, and that the establishment was “ready to listen to its people”.

As president, Pezeshkian holds some power within the government, but can be overruled by Khamenei.

Protests in Iran on Saturday

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL

At least 192 protesters have been killed in Iran since the start of the anti-regime demonstrations, according to the non-profit group Iran Human Rights.

The true death toll may well be much higher. “Unverified reports indicate that at least several hundreds — and according to some sources, more than 2,000 — people may have been killed,” IHR said.

“Due to the total internet blackout and severe restrictions on access to information, independent verification remains a serious challenge under the current circumstances.”

Burning cars in Kaj Square in Tehran as unrest spread

SINAI IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL

These days, “Code 99” rings out again and again over the loudspeakers in Iranian hospitals — the emergency alert reserved for patients brought in with gunshot wounds from protests that have swept the country.

In a hospital in Mashhad, northeast Iran, on Friday night, a doctor tried to resuscitate a 22-year-old woman who had been shot by security forces.

• The chaos and horror inside Iran’s overwhelmed hospitals

“I performed CPR on her three times, but she died,” he said. “They’re shooting with live ammunition.”

​Protests have spread to almost all of Iran’s towns and cities and a “bloodbath” was reported in the northern city of Rasht.

The forces are “using live ammunition and killing protesters at nighttime … shooting at anyone wearing a mask”, a 24-year-old student told The Times. “We have heard of several acquaintances being killed, and we are searching for their bodies.”

Witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity said the sound of gunfire filled the air and hospitals were overwhelmed. In a sign that the protests are strengthening, key locations emblematic of the regime were set on fire, including a mosque, a town hall and bases belonging to the basij, a volunteer paramilitary force.

“On Saturday night, people in Mashhad [an eastern city] were shot at with a military rifle, and a young girl was killed right in front of my eyes,” said the student, who circumvented the internet blackout with a private Starlink hub. “The regime is weakening every passing day,” he said, adding that the demonstrations would not stop.

• Read more: Secrets, lies and Starlink — how Iran protesters are defying regime

A 23-year-old college student, Rubina Aminian, was shot dead on Thursday after leaving her campus and joining a protest in Tehran, according to the non-profit Iran Human Rights. Sources close to her family told the centre she was shot in the head from behind at close range.

While rights organisations have named dozens of protesters killed, it has been impossible to independently verify the identity or number of fatalities because of an information blackout.

“Most of the dead were young people between the ages of 18 and 22 who were shot in the head by government agents at close range,” according to a statement given to the centre, which added that Aminian’s family were forced to bury her body far from their home after security forces surrounded their house.

Aminian, who studied design and fashion at the Shariati University in Tehran, was described as “full of enthusiasm for life”.

Khamenei on Friday

GETTY IMAGES

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused protesters of acting on behalf of the United States, calling them “vandals” and insisting he would not “back down”.

“Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals came and destroyed a building that belongs to them to please the US president,” the supreme leader said in a speech broadcast by state media on Friday. “They want to make him happy. If he knew how to run a country, he would run his own.”

Trump claimed on Thursday that Khamenei was preparing to flee the country, a week after The Times revealed details of a back-up plan in which he would escape to Moscow with an inner circle of about 20 aides and family.

• Read more: Will the Ayatollah step down? Most potent protests yet put him on brink

Nazanin Boniadi has appeared in Homeland and Ben-Hur

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL

The Iranian-born British actress Nazanin Boniadi has called for international support for the protesters facing violent repression.

“We are now three days into an internet blackout,” Boniadi, 45, told Sky News. “The very limited information that I have received has been because of the existence of Starlink terminals and the activation of Starlink recently, and and it’s not good news. Iranians are no strangers to protests and uprisings. They’re risking their lives and as we’re seeing, people are being slaughtered.

“Now we need international support. The last thing we need is for people to be emboldened to go into the streets because they think they’re going to get that support and then that support doesn’t come.”

Protesters block a street in Tehran on Friday

MAHSA/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES /AFP

On Saturday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, told protesters their aim should be to “bring the Islamic Republic and its worn-out and fragile repression apparatus to its knees”. He urged a general strike, saying: “The goal is to prepare for seizing the centres of cities and holding them.”

After two weeks of protests, opponents of the Iranian regime believe power may be within their grasp. But it is not clear whether the country is building towards a revolution or a renewed and harsher form of repression.

• Read in full: A free future for Iran looks unlikely

A protester waved the pre-revolution flag of Iran from the embassy in Kensington

The Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK is due to hold a rally outside 10 Downing Street this morning in solidarity with the protesters in Iran.

It follows a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London on Saturday, when an activist removed the Iranian national flag from a balcony and temporarily replaced it with the pre-revolution flag bearing the lion and sun emblem used by opposition groups in the country. The acrobatic protester was dubbed the “Iranian Spider-Man” on social media.

• Read in full: Demonstrator tears down regime flag at London embassy

Demonstrators in 1979, when the Shah was overthrown

KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES

The mass protests in Iran are the largest in the country for more than 15 years and threaten to topple the Islamic regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Demonstrations began in the bazaars of Tehran on December 28, fuelled by anger over economic hardship. They have swollen into unrest involving hundreds of thousands of people across the country’s 31 provinces.

The protesters have cause for pessimism: each popular movement since the Shah was overthrown in the 1970s has brought talk of regime change — then a brutal response.

• Read in full: A timeline of unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution

How serious is Trump about striking Iran? The regime would be foolish to disregard his threats. They have emboldened the protesters — a reversal of Iranians’ longstanding loathing of foreign intervention.

“Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says,” Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said in reference to the capture last weekend of the Venezuelan president. In January last year, while discussing Iran in a Senate confirmation hearing, Rubio said: “I don’t know of any nation on earth in which there is a bigger difference between the people and those who govern them.” That comment resonated among Iranians.

• Read in full: The Ayatollah’s strategy has spun out of control since October 7

An internet blackout has limited Iranians’ communication with the outside world for more than 60 hours now, the online monitor Netblocks said on Sunday. Images from Saturday appeared to show that street lighting was switched off in some areas where protesters gathered.

The blackout has caused the shutdown of companies, banking, airlines and pharmacies, and led to a cash shortage as ATMs and debit cards are affected.

The last time Iran imposed an internet blackout was during protests in 2019, when it covered up what Amnesty International said was violent suppression in which 321 people were killed.

The exiled son of the shah has said Trump is “ready” to help protesters. Reza Pahlavi said Trump had “observed” their “indescribable courage” and wanted to assist them.

Pahlavi, who was training as a fighter pilot in the US in 1979 when the revolution swept away his father’s monarchy, told protesters not to “abandon the streets” and that he would “soon be by [their] side”.

“My heart is with you,” he said in Farsi. Many protesters have called for the return of rule by a shah. After Israeli strikes last year that killed several senior senior generals, Pahlavi, who lives in Washington, declared he was prepared to help lead a transitional government. “This is not about restoring the past,” he has said. “It’s about securing a democratic future for all Iranians.”

• Read more: Who is Reza Pahlavi? The crown prince urging Iranians to protest

Britain wants to see a “peaceful transition” of power in Iran, a cabinet minister said this morning.

“The British government has always viewed Iran as a hostile state,” Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, told Sky News. “We know that they pose a security threat in the Middle East and beyond and we know that they have been a repressive regime in terms of their own population. And so I think the priority, as of today, is to try and stem the violence that is happening in Iran at the moment.

“It’s a concerning situation there and we would like to see anything that happens in future involving a peaceful transition where people can enjoy fundamental freedoms and we see proper democratic values back in the heart of Iran.”

Iran has vowed to retaliate against both Israel and the US if it is attacked.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of parliament, said on Sunday morning: “In the event of a military attack by the United States, both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets.” MPs are said to have responded by chanting “Death to America”.

President Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it kills protesters and it was reported on Saturday night that the US and Israel had discussed possible intervention.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

Trump was briefed with a series of different options for strikes against Iran, including on non-military sites in the capital, Tehran, according to The New York Times. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, spoke to Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on Saturday and discussed the possibility of US intervention, a US official told Reuters.

Crowds gathered in Punak Square in Tehran despite the crackdown

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL

The demonstrations over the past fortnight have been the biggest in Iran for years and have left at least 116 people dead.

They began in the bazaars of Tehran over the economy before expanding across the country. Some protesters are calling for the restoration of the monarchy, which was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah, has encouraged the protests.

According to activists and civil rights groups, Iran has tried to suppress the uprising with live fire, tear gas and mass detentions.