More than 500 dead from Iran protests, rights group says

Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out his renewed threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.

With the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Mr Trump has ⁠repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.

According to its latest figures - from activists inside and outside Iran - US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.

Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.

Mr Trump is to meet with senior advisers tomorrow to discuss Iran, a US official said.

"The military is looking at it, and ‍we're looking at some very strong options," Mr Trump told reporters traveling on Air Force One.

Mr Trump said he was in contact with Iranian ‍opposition leaders. He also said, without elaborating, that Iran's leaders had called him on Saturday and want to negotiate, and that he might talk to them.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned the US against "a miscalculation."

"Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target," said Mr Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Authorities intensify crackdown

The protests began on 28 December in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting trouble and called for a nationwide rally to condemn "terrorist actions led by the United States and Israel," state media reported.

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.

Mr Trump said he would talk to Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran through his Starlink satellite service.

Footage posted on social media from Tehran showed large crowds marching at night, clapping and chanting.

The crowd "has no end nor beginning," a man is heard saying.

State TV showed dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner's office, saying the dead were victims of events caused by "armed terrorists", as well as footage of loved ones gathered outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran waiting to identify bodies.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by reports of violence by the Iranian authorities and urged maximum restraint.

"The rights to freedom of expression, association & peaceful assembly must be fully respected and protected," he said on X.

Authorities declared three days of national mourning "in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime," according to state media.

Three Israeli sources, ⁠who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for the possibility of any US intervention.

Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June 2025, which the United States briefly joined by attacking nuclear installations.

Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and a US airbase in Qatar.

While the Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest have ⁠unfolded with Tehran still recovering from last year's war and with its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Iran's unrest comes as Mr Trump flexes US muscles internationally, having ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel and the US were masterminding destabilisation and that Iran's enemies had brought in "terrorists ... who set mosques ⁠on fire ... ‍attack banks, and public properties."

US ready to help, says Trump

Mr Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: "Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!"

In a phone call, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source present for the conversation.

Some protesters in the United States took to the streets in support of the ‍ demonstrators in Iran.

In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood, a rental truck drove into a crowd of a few hundred people who were holding a rally in support of the Iranian protesters, the ‍KNBC news outlet reported.

Los Angeles Police officer Sean Murray said that, based on video news accounts, the driver was escorted away by police.

Mr Murray said it was not clear how many people were injured, but that all of the injured were treated at the scene.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, said Mr Trump had observed Iranians' "indescribable bravery".

"Do not abandon the streets," Mr Pahlavi, who is based in the US, wrote on X.