Iran ratchets up warnings against protesters, threatens U.S. troops in region as unrest continues
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Nationwide unrest challenging Iran's theocracy saw protesters flood the streets in the country's capital and its second-largest city Saturday night and into Sunday morning, crossing the two-week mark. The death toll of people who have died in violence surrounding the demonstrations jumped to at least 538 people, U.S.-based activists said.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of contacts inside the country, the death toll from clashes between protesters and Iran's security forces has climbed steadily.
Of those killed, 490 are protesters and 48 are members of the security forces, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said, warning the toll is likely to go up. Another 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, the group said. The Iranian government has not offered any overall casualty figures for the demonstrations.
Faced with its most significant challenge in years, Iran's theocratic rulers have issued increasingly stern threats to what it claims are agitators being influenced by the U.S. and Israel — and answered threats of a U.S. intervention by President Trump with corresponding threats of their own.
Iran's parliament speaker warned the U.S. military and Israel would be "legitimate targets" if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by Mr. Trump. Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: "Death to America!"
Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran's security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite warnings from Mr. Trump that he's willing to strike the Islamic Republic if demonstrators are killed.
On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that "Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!"
"I'm sure that has really scared many Iranian officials and may have affected their actions in terms of how to confront the protestors, but at the same time, it has inspired many protesters to come out because they know that the leader of the world's main superpower is supporting their cause," Maziar Bahari, the editor of the IranWire news website told CBS News.
A senior U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Mr. Trump has been briefed on new options for potential military strikes in Iran. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous U.S. officials, reported Saturday night that Mr. Trump had been given military options but hadn't made a final decision.
Iran lawmaker says "signs of a threat" could trigger attacks on U.S. troops
Iranian state television broadcast the Sunday parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for the presidency in the past, gave a speech applauding police and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for having "stood firm" during the protests.
"The people of Iran should know that we will deal with them in the most severe way and punish those who are arrested," Qalibaf said.
He went on to directly threaten Israel, "the occupied territory" as he referred to it, and the U.S. military, possibly with a preemptive strike.
"In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets," Qalibaf said. "We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat."
It remains unclear just how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defenses destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel, which also saw the U.S. carry out strikes against its nuclear facilities. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S. military has said in the Mideast it is "postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and U.S. interests."
Israel, meanwhile, is "watching closely" the situation between the U.S. and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.
Iran targeted U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Iran threatens protesters with death sentences
Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed gathering in northern Tehran's Punak neighborhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.
Other video purportedly showed demonstrators peacefully marching down a street and others honking their car horns on the street.
"The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived, and fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure," the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. "At the same time, reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements by security forces around protest locations, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control."
In Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, some 450 miles northeast of Tehran, video purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Flaming debris and dumpsters could be seen in the street, blocking the road. Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza shrine, the holiest in Shiite Islam, making the protests there carry heavy significance for the country's theocracy.
Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 500 miles southeast of Tehran.
Iranian state television on Sunday morning took a page from demonstrators, having their correspondents appear on streets in several cities to show calm areas with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. They also showed pro-government demonstrations in Qom and Qazvin.
Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran's attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an "enemy of God," a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who "helped rioters" would face the charge.
Iran's theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.
Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to "claim public spaces as your own."
Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn't clear whether that's support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.
Pope Leo calls for dialogue
Pope Leo XIV offered prayers for those killed in protests in Iran and in the conflict in Syria and called for dialogue and peace on Sunday.
"My thoughts turn to what is happening these days in the Middle East, particularly in Iran and Syria, where persistent tensions are causing the deaths of many people," the U.S.-born pontiff said during his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican. "I hope and pray for the patient cultivation of dialogue and peace, for the common good of society as a whole."