Protests driven by economic hardship in Iran turned increasingly violent over the weekend, with a mosque and a police station set ablaze and more than 100 members of the security forces reported killed since the unrest began.
State television said on Sunday that at least 30 police and security personnel were killed in Isfahan province, while six more died in Kermanshah during the latest clashes. The semi-official Tasnim news agency put the nationwide death toll among security forces at 109.
According to state media, a mosque was torched in the north-eastern city of Mashhad on Saturday night, while a police station was set on fire during confrontations in Tehran. Videos circulating online showed burning vehicles, scattered debris and blocked roads in several cities as protesters faced off with security forces.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society also confirmed that one of its staff members was killed when a relief facility came under attack in the northern city of Gorgan.
The demonstrations erupted in late December following a sharp fall in the national currency and quickly spread across the country, fuelled by rising prices, inflation and worsening living conditions under Western sanctions. What began as protests over economic distress has since taken on a broader anti-government tone.
Interior Ministry officials said the situation is gradually coming under control, though the attorney general warned that those involved in violent acts would face harsh consequences.
Addressing parliament on Sunday, Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned the United States against military action after Donald Trump threatened strikes if Iranian authorities continued to kill protesters. Qalibaf said any attack on Iran would make Israel and US bases and vessels in the region legitimate targets.
Trump said on Saturday that Washington was ready to support Iranian protesters and repeated his warning of possible military action.
Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian pledged in a televised interview to reform Iran’s struggling economy and said his government was prepared to listen to public demands. At the same time, he accused the United States and Israel of seeking to destabilise the country and urged citizens to avoid violence.
Human rights groups have called for restraint, reporting that dozens of protesters have been killed and many more detained during the security crackdown.
