Rights monitors and residents report protests have largely faded following a sweeping security response, even as arrests mount and international pressure intensifies over Iran’s deadly crackdown.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iran’s nationwide protests appear to have eased following a deadly state crackdown, according to rights groups and residents, as authorities continued arrests and tightened security amid warnings from the United States that further killings could trigger serious consequences.
Rights monitors said demonstrations have largely halted since the weekend, with heavy security deployments now dominating cities that previously saw large crowds. The apparent lull follows repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to take military action in support of protesters if the bloodshed continued. Those fears receded after Trump said Wednesday he had been informed that killings linked to the crackdown were slowing.
U.S. allies in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, engaged in intensive diplomacy with Washington this week to deter a potential U.S. strike, warning that such action could destabilize the wider region and ultimately harm U.S. interests, according to a Gulf official cited by Reuters.
The White House said Thursday that Trump is closely monitoring developments and that he and his team have warned Tehran of “grave consequences” should killings persist. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added that Trump had been informed that 800 scheduled executions were halted and said the president was keeping “all of his options on the table.”
The protests erupted on December 28, initially driven by soaring inflation in an economy battered by sanctions, before escalating into one of the most serious challenges faced by Iran’s clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
With information flows disrupted by an internet blackout, several Tehran residents told Reuters the capital had been quiet since Sunday. They reported seeing drones overhead but no visible protests on Thursday or Friday.
Norway-based Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said it had recorded no protest gatherings since Sunday, adding that “the security environment remains highly restrictive.” The group said its independent sources confirmed a heavy military and security presence in cities and towns that previously experienced demonstrations, as well as in some areas that had not seen major unrest.
Another resident in a northern city along the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm. All residents declined to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Despite the overall slowdown, signs of unrest persisted in some areas. Hengaw reported that a female nurse was killed by direct gunfire from government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Tehran, though Reuters said it was unable to independently verify the claim.
State-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that rioters set fire to a local education office in Falavarjan County, in central Isfahan Province, on Thursday.
An elderly resident from a northwestern town with a significant Kurdish population—an area that has seen some of the most intense unrest—said sporadic protests continued, though at a reduced level. Recalling earlier violence, she said, “I have not scenes like that before.”
State-owned Press TV quoted Iran’s police chief as saying calm had been restored across the country.
Casualty figures remain disputed. U.S.-based rights group HRANA reported that the death toll had risen only slightly since Wednesday, standing at 2,677 people, including 2,478 protesters and 163 individuals identified as affiliated with the government. Reuters said it could not independently verify the figures. An Iranian official previously told the agency that about 2,000 people had been killed.
The reported death toll far exceeds casualties from previous episodes of unrest that were forcibly suppressed by the state.
Iranian authorities have described the turmoil as the most violent unrest to date, accusing foreign enemies of instigating it and alleging that armed groups they label as terrorists targeted security forces and carried out attacks.
Tasnim reported the arrest of what it described as a large number of leaders of recent riots in the western province of Kermanshah. The outlet also said five people were arrested in the southeastern city of Kerman, accused of vandalizing a gas station and a base belonging to the Basij, a paramilitary force often deployed to quell protests.
State television on Friday broadcast funerals for members of the security forces in Semnan, in northern Iran, and Semirom, in central Iran, underscoring the toll the unrest has taken on both sides.
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