Iran Protests Intensify As Activists Say Death Toll Tops 500

Some 544 people have died so far in nationwide protests in Iran, according to activists, as demonstrations hit the three-week mark and have turned into one of the most serious challenges to the regime in Tehran in recent years.

More than 10,000 people have also been imprisoned, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which is tracking protests in 186 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Tehran earlier warned the US and Israel against any intervention over the protests.

Communications remain largely cut off, which has made it difficult to track the full scope of the protest movement. Saturday marked the third night of intensified demonstrations, following calls by Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, to seize city centers and stage strikes.

“Despite being completely cut off from the world, Internet shutdown, and for a regime that is massacring its own people, this is an opportunity to liberate that nation,” Pahlavi said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.

Since the unrest first began on Dec. 28, President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned the Iranian regime not to fire on demonstrators. He received a briefing in recent days on new options for military strikes.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!,” Trump posted on social media on Saturday.

On Sunday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a conciliatory tone in a state TV interview, offering condolences to families affected by the “tragic consequences” of the unrest.

“Your protests must be heard, and we must address your concerns. Let’s sit down together, hand in hand, and solve the problems,” he said, without offering details on how that would be done. “I promise the dear people, perhaps 90% of whom have concerns, that we will address their worries. We will get through this crisis.”

Still, Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of bringing in “terrorists from abroad,” whom he claimed had set mosques and markets on fire, “beheaded some, and burned others alive.” Other officials took an even harder line.

“In the event of a US military attack, both the occupied territories and US military and shipping centers will be legitimate targets for us,” Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in remarks broadcast on state television on Sunday.

He reiterated a warning that Iran could act preemptively against potential threats. “Within the framework of legitimate self-defense, we do not limit ourselves to responding only after an attack,” he said.

Trump has been briefed in recent days on a range of options for military strikes in Iran, including nonmilitary sites, a White House official said. The US president is seriously considering authorizing an attack, according to the official.

Israel’s Army Radio reported Sunday that the country’s security establishment views it as unlikely that Iran will attack Israel at this stage. “No such immediate willingness is identified in Israel — but rather an Iranian focus on internal matters,” it said, citing unidentified defense officials.

Footage from Iranian cities suggests that hundreds of thousands, including many elderly, are defying stern warnings from authorities to stay off the streets, despite a nationwide internet blackout and severe telecommunications restrictions that have blocked calls and text messages since Thursday.

The NetBlocks internet‑monitoring group said in a posting on X early Sunday that internet connectivity in Iran “continues to flatline around 1% of ordinary levels.”

Still, multiple social media videos, reportedly from a warehouse in southern Tehran, show people searching through dozens of corpses in body bags, lined up on the ground and on stretchers. Wailing can be heard as individuals bend over the bags, trying to identify their loved ones.

Other videos, reportedly from west of Tehran on Saturday night, show thousands of protesters packed into the streets, waving phone flashlights in the dark as city lights remain shut down, amid whistles and chants of “Death to the dictator.” A truck was seen on fire in Mashhad, while footage purportedly from Sunday shows a state tax administration building burned out overnight in eastern Tehran. Bloomberg couldn’t independently verify any of the footage.