At least 2,000 dead in nationwide Iran protests, activists say

Iranian and Qatari officials spoke on Tuesday during a deadly crackdown in Iran and America’s escalating threats to intervene if protesters are not spared.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, spoke on the phone with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister.

In a statement on X, Al Thani said he “reaffirmed the State of Qatar’s backing of all de-escalation efforts, as well as peaceful solutions to enhance security and stability in the region.”

Qatar got caught in the crossfire during Israel’s 12-day war in June when the Islamic Republic retaliated against U.S. airstrikes on its nuclear facility by targeting U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha.

Iranian state TV says officials will hold a funeral Wednesday for the “martyrs and security defenders” who have died in the nationwide protests that have intensified in the last week.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, stated that the funeral will take place at Tehran University and will be the first among many state funerals held for security forces in the coming days.

United Nations officials confirmed Tuesday that the more than 500 U.N. staff members in Iran are safe and accounted for.

Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, told reporters that many staff were working from home given the unrest that has spread throughout the country and killed hundreds of protesters.

The U.N. country team in Iran has 46 international staff and 448 national staff.

A few hundred demonstrators, mainly members of the Iranian community in Italy, gathered in central Milan on Tuesday demanding freedom for Iran.

Various demonstrators were seen destroying the current flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran and waving the old one that was used until the 1979 revolution.

Another sit-in took place in the morning in Rome in front of the Iranian embassy. Several politicians from the Italian left-leaning party Europa+ took part in the protests, holding up signs reading “Oppression” and “Free Iran.”

A senior Iranian official responded Tuesday to Trump’s latest threat to intervene in deadly protests, saying that the U.S. and Israel will be the ones responsible for the death of Iranian civilians.

Shortly after Trump’s social media post urging Iranians to “take over” government institutions, Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, posted on X: “We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran: 1- Trump 2- Netanyahu.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on Tuesday the threats “categorically unacceptable.”

The ministry warned in a statement that any such strikes would have “disastrous consequences” for the situation in the Middle East and global security. It also criticized what it called “brazen attempts to blackmail Iran’s foreign partners by raising trade tariffs.”

The statement noted that the protests in Iran had been triggered by social and economic problems resulting from Western sanctions. It also denounced “hostile external forces” for trying to “exploit the resulting growing social tension to destabilize and destroy the Iranian state” and charged that “specially trained and armed provocateurs acting on instructions from abroad” sought to provoke violence.

The ministry voiced hope that the situation in Iran will gradually stabilize and advised Russian citizens in the Islamic Republic not to visit crowded places.

Several people in Tehran were able to call The Associated Press on Tuesday and speak to a journalist. They described a heavy security presence in the center of the Iranian capital, burned-out government buildings, smashed ATMs and few passersby.

Meanwhile, people remain concerned about what comes next, including the possibility of a U.S. attack.

“My customers talk about Trump’s reaction while wondering if he plans a military strike against the Islamic Republic,” said shopkeeper Mahmoud, who gave only his first name out of concern for his safety. “I don’t expect Trump or any other foreign country cares about the interests of Iranians.”

Reza, a taxi driver who also gave just his first name, said protests remain on many people’s minds. “People — particularly young ones — are hopeless but they talk about continuing the protests,” he said.

Witnesses said text messaging was still down, and internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally but nothing abroad.

The TV report said the country had “a lot of martyrs” in the nationwide protests and quoted Ahmad Mousavi, the head of the Martyrs Foundation.

The anchor read a statement that laid blame on “armed and terrorist groups, which led the country to present a lot of martyrs to God.”

The acknowledgment came after activists put the death toll at at least 2,003 people killed.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s canceled talks with Iranian officials amid their protest crackdown and promised help to protesters in the country after human rights monitors the death toll spiked to 2,000.

He did not offer any details about what the help would entail, but it comes after Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic.

Trump’s latest message on social media appeared to make an abrupt shift in his willingness to engage with the Iranian government.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” Trump wrote in on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

Trump repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against anti-government protesters.

On Monday, Trump said he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately” but the White House has not provided details on that move. China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among the economies that do business with Tehran.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry says it summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin on Tuesday to protest the crackdown against demonstrators.
The ministry wrote in a social media post that “the Iranian regime’s brutal action against its own population is shocking.” It called on Iran to end the use of violence against its own people and “respect their rights.”

“If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at the end,” Merz said Tuesday during a visit to Bengaluru, India. “I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime. In any case, it has no legitimacy through elections in the population.” Friedrich Merz said. “The population is now rising up against this regime.”

Merz said he hoped there is “a possibility to end this conflict peacefully,” adding that Germany is in close contact with the U.S. and European governments.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned the Iranian ambassador Tuesday to denounce Iran’s repression of protesters, which Barrot called “intolerable, unbearable, and inhumane.″

Addressing lawmakers at France’s National Assembly, Barrot said that France “condemned the repression in the strongest possible terms, denouncing this state violence that was unleashed blindly upon peaceful protesters.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced plans for “full and further sanctions” against Iran that target finance, energy, transport and other significant industries after the Foreign Office summoned the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to explain the nation’s response to recent protests.

Cooper told the House of Commons on Tuesday that a “desperate regime,’’ must not be allowed to undermine a “genuine grassroots movement’’ which has spread through many regions and all parts of society.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate hailed people who have “long warned about this repression, at great personal risk.”

“The protests in Iran cannot be separated from the long-standing, state-imposed restrictions on girls’ and women’s autonomy, in all aspects of public life including education. Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, demand a life with dignity,” Yousafzai wrote on X.

“[Iran’s] future must be driven by the Iranian people, and include the leadership of Iranian women and girls — not external forces or oppressive regimes,” she added.

Yousafzai was awarded the peace prize in 2014 at the age of 17 for her fight for girls’ education in her home country, Pakistan. She is the youngest Nobel laureate.

A report by Iranian state television said the group entered through Iran’s eastern borders and carried U.S.-made guns and explosives that the group had planned to use in assassinations and acts of sabotage. It didn’t provide additional details.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the allegations.

Finland’s foreign minister says she is summoning the Iranian ambassador after authorities in Tehran restricted internet access.

“Iran’s regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence,” Elina Valtonen wrote in a social media post Tuesday, adding, “this will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran — women and men alike.”

Finland is “exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people” together with the European Union, Valtonen said.

Separately, Finnish police said they believe at least two people entered the courtyard of the Iranian embassy in Helsinki without permission Monday afternoon and tore down the Iranian flag. The embassy’s outer wall was also daubed with paint.

The United Nations human rights chief is calling on Iranian authorities to immediately halt violence and repression against peaceful protesters, citing reports of hundreds killed and thousands arrested in a wave of demonstrations in recent weeks.

“The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday.

Alluding to a wave of protests in Iran in 2022, Türk said demonstrators have sought “fundamental changes” to governance in the country, “and once again, the authorities’ reaction is to inflict brutal force to repress legitimate demands for change.”

“This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue,” he added.

It was also “extremely worrying” to hear some public statements from judicial officials mentioning the prospect of the use of the death penalty against protesters through expedited judicial proceedings, Türk said.

“Iranians have the right to demonstrate peacefully. Their grievances need to be heard and addressed, and not instrumentalized by anyone,” Türk said.

Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters. It’s a red line that Trump has said he believes Iran is “starting to cross” and has left him and his national security team weighing “very strong options.”

But the U.S. military — which Trump has warned Tehran is “locked and loaded” — appears, at least for the moment, to have been placed on standby mode as Trump ponders next steps, saying that Iranian officials want to have talks with the White House.

Trump announced Monday on social media that he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately” — his first action aimed at penalizing Iran for the protest crackdown, and his latest example of using tariffs as a tool to force friends and foes on the global stage to bend to his will.

China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among the economies that do business with Tehran. The White House declined to offer further comment or details about the president’s tariff announcement.

▶ Read more about Trump and Iran

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said he summoned Iran’s ambassador to the Netherlands “to formally protest the excessive violence against peaceful protesters, large-scale arbitrary arrests, and internet shutdowns, calling for immediate restoration of internet access inside the Islamic Republic.

In a post on X, Weel also said the Dutch government supports EU sanctions against “human rights violators in Iran.”

Kaja Kallas said in Berlin Tuesday that the Iranian government might go the way of former President Bashar Assad’s government in Syria, which fell swiftly in late 2024 in a “surprise for everybody.” But she added that “very often these regimes are very, very resilient.”

Kallas said that “right now … it is not clear whether the regime is going to fall or not.” She said it would ultimately have to be up to the Iranian people to make decisions.

This came a day after the European Parliament announced it would ban Iranian diplomats and representatives.

“Iran does not seek enmity with the EU, but will reciprocate any restriction,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote Tuesday on X.

He also criticized the European Parliament for not taking any significant action against Israel for the more than two-year war in Gaza that has killed more than 71,400 Palestinians, while banning Iranian diplomats after just “a few days of violent riots.”

The difficulty of tracking the death toll has been compounded by the government’s decision to cut off the internet and international calling to the country, but some information has still been getting out.

The Associated Press has been relying on figures provided by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has reported hundreds of deaths. The U.S.-based agency has been accurate throughout multiple years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations, making it difficult to assess the scale of the protests. Videos that have surfaced online offer brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire.

The AP reporting has relied on some of these videos, which likely have made it out of the country via Starlink satellite dishes. The AP authenticates such footage by checking it against known locations and events, as well as talking to regional experts. The AP also ensures the substance of the video is consistent with its own reporting.

▶ Read more about how the AP reports on the death toll

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the new sanctions will be imposed on Iranian officials over the crackdown on protestors.

“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying. I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom,” von der Leyen said in a post on social media.

She said that in cooperation with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas “further sanctions on those responsible for the repression will be swiftly proposed. We stand with the people of Iran who are bravely marching for their liberty.”