President Donald Trump says he is speaking to Iran’s leadership amid a significant US military build-up in the Middle East, as regional leaders push for diplomacy to avoid a new conflict.
Published On 30 Jan 202630 Jan 2026
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Numerous US military assets in the Gulf region are ‘within the range of our medium-range missiles’, Iran’s military spokesman warns.
Published On 30 Jan 202630 Jan 2026
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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the US is prepared to use “all options” to prevent Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons, while emphasizing that Washington is still leaving room for a diplomatic deal, Anadolu reports.
“With Iran right now, ensuring that they have all the options to make a deal. They should not pursue nuclear capabilities,” Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting along with US President Donald Trump.
Trump reiterated Wednesday that a “massive armada” is headed to Iran, expressing hope that Tehran will “come to the table” and negotiate with Washington.
READ: Iran warns of uncontrollable consequences if attacked
Hegseth stressed that the Pentagon stands ready to carry out any directives issued by Trump, signaling that military options remain firmly on the table if diplomacy fails.
“We will be prepared to deliver whatever this president expects of the War Department, just like we did this month,” he said, referring to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have reacted strongly to the latest threat issued by Trump, as a US military fleet moves toward Iranian waters amid escalating tensions between the longtime adversaries.
READ: Israeli, Saudi officials visit US for Iran talks amid military buildup: Report
The US has intensified threats against Iran if it doesn’t agree to its demands, as Trump says a ‘massive armada’ is amassing in the region. Al Jazeera’s Virginia Pietromarchi answers key questions on the latest escalation.
Published On 29 Jan 202629 Jan 2026
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As the Sundance Film Festival winds down its final edition in Park City, Utah, this week, ahead of its move to Boulder, Colo., next year, its sway over the nonfiction field at the Oscars remains as steady as ever. All five current Academy Award nominees for documentary feature premiered at last year’s festival, with Sundance films winning the category six times over the last decade.
“Sundance has been a kick-starter for my entire career,” says Ryan White, director of “Come See Me in the Good Light,” his fourth film to premiere at the festival. The intimate portrait of Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson, who faces a terminal diagnosis with a spirit of resilience, needed the boost. “The lead words are poetry and cancer, and it’s a character-driven film about a non-binary person,” White says. “It wasn’t the easiest film to get off the ground.” A similar challenge could apply to other nominees, including “Mr. Nobody vs. Putin” and “Cutting Through Rocks,” which focus on everyday individuals taking on oppressive systems in Russia and Iran, respectively. “There are the types of films that can get lost because they’re not about a celebrity, and they don’t have these marquee descriptors. Sundance does such an amazing job of discovering these diamonds.”
Andrea Gibson, left, and Megan Falley in “Come See Me in the Good Light.”
The exposure at the start of the film festival season “gives you that one-year runway that allows you to play festivals all year long,” says White, who was back at Sundance to celebrate the end of an era. He also knows the pain of not making the cut. “My first two films didn’t get into Sundance, and then my third one did. I’m always telling young filmmakers to use the Sundance rejection as fuel.”
A festival berth was strong motivation for “Mr. Nobody” filmmaker David Borenstein, who collaborated with his subject, a schoolteacher near the Ural Mountains named Pavel (“Pasha”) Talankin, as he quietly documented Russian propaganda efforts to rally his young students around the war in Ukraine. “That was the goal the entire time making this film,” says the director, an American based in Copenhagen. “I never thought once about anything after Sundance.” When the Danish Film Institute submitted his film as the country’s entry for the international feature Oscar, he had a new goal. “We were the last to start campaigning because we didn’t have a streamer behind us.”
Borenstein interrupted a family vacation in the Dominican Republic to return to Sundance for meetings and figure out next steps. “Forget winning or losing,” he says. “You have six weeks where you have a voice, where Pasha has a voice. How do you use it?” Talankin, who fled his home — first for Turkey, then the Czech Republic — is, for the moment, no longer “Mr. Nobody,” but as Borenstein notes, “He sacrificed his whole life to do this.”
Iranian American filmmakers Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki were well into the eight-year production of “Cutting Through Rocks” when they became recipients of a 2020 Sundance Documentary Fund grant. “The timing was perfect and we really, really, really needed that support,” says Khaki, joining Eyni on a video conversation from Park City, where their film won the Grand Jury Prize in the world cinema category last year. “Sundance is something beyond only the festival for us,” Eyni says. “It’s more about persistence as a filmmaker and the cinematic approach to the stories and sense of community.”
“Cutting Through Rocks” follows Sara Shahverdi, the first woman elected to the council of her northwestern Iranian village, as she challenges the practice of child marriage and other patriarchal norms and empowers young women by showing them how to ride motorbikes, as she does herself. The message of resistance feels relevant worldwide, but most urgently in Iran, where estimates of deaths during recent protests top 30,000 people. “We want small stories and anecdotes to remind us that we can bring change,” Eyni says, “even when it’s tough, even when it seems impossible.” Although the film is the first documentary from Iran to be nominated for an Oscar, the news has been hard to share there because of the government’s weeks-long internet blackout.
“We are experiencing a lot of complex emotions,” Eyni says.
Sara Shahverdi, the subject of Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Cutting Through Rocks.”
(Gandom Films)
Sundance thrives on exactly those kinds of feelings. The dramatic premiere of “Come See Me in the Good Light” was, for its filmmaker, “The best night of my entire career.” What began as a film about the end of Gibson’s life quickly became a story about the joy of a life well-lived, experienced alongside the charismatic subject’s wife, poet Megan Falley. When White broke the news about the film’s acceptance, “Andrea was so emotional saying, ‘You’re telling me if I survive for six more weeks, I might see this movie?’” he recalls. And they did.
“I think people fell in love with Andrea during the course of that film, but they probably assumed that Andrea had passed away, and they were about to see a card at the end of the film,” White continues. Then Gibson walked up. “It was like a rock star rising from the ashes. You could literally feel the theater vibrating.”
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Oil prices rose on Thursday after US President Donald Trump warned Iran that “time is running out” and said a “massive armada” was heading towards the region if Tehran failed to agree to a nuclear non-proliferation deal.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said a fleet larger than the one sent to Venezuela was ready to “rapidly fulfil its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary” if Iran refused to negotiate a deal guaranteeing “no nuclear weapons”.
Global benchmark Brent rose by about 2.02%, trading at around $68.73 per barrel, while US crude (WTI) hovered around 2.15% higher, at $64.57 per barrel.
Trump previously threatened to attack Iran if it killed protesters during the ongoing protest movement across the country. Estimates of those killed range from around 6,000 to as many as 30,000, according to various reports.
If the US were to escalate militarily, it could disrupt oil flows to countries that still trade with Iran.
Iran’s economy is already under heavy pressure from US secondary financial sanctions on its banking and energy sectors, compounded by the reimposition of JCPOA snapback sanctions.
These measures have severely limited Iran’s access to the Western financial system and constrained its ability to trade openly.
As a result, Iranian exports rely heavily on so-called “dark fleets,” ship-to-ship transfers and intermediary routes designed to obscure cargo origins along major maritime corridors.
Yet despite years of sanctions, Iran has retained access to oil markets, underlining the difficulty of fully enforcing restrictions on a high-value global commodity.
“Iran has a number of markets for its oil, despite the Western sanctions regime,” said Dmitry Grozubinski, a senior advisor on international trade policy at Aurora Macro Strategies.
China remains the largest buyer, with reports suggesting Iranian crude is often rebranded as Malaysian or Gulf-origin oil before entering the country.
“Independent refineries are purchasing it using dark fleet vessels, with transactions conducted through small private banks and in renminbi,” Grozubinski said.
Other destinations for Iranian oil and derivatives include Iraq, the UAE and Turkey, further complicating enforcement.
“It’s extremely difficult to maintain comprehensive sanctions on oil,” Grozubinski said, “especially when it requires policing transactions between Iran and states that don’t fully share Western priorities.”
China currently imports an estimated 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels of Iranian oil per day — around 80 to 90% of Iran’s crude exports.
That dependence makes Beijing the central variable in any escalation. Analysts say China would be the most likely major economy to resist compliance and retaliate.
“Beijing has already signalled it would respond if Trump follows through,” said Dan Alamariu, chief geopolitical strategist at Alpine Macro, warning of renewed US–China trade friction.
One risk raised by analysts is the potential for China to again restrict exports of rare earths — a tool it has previously used during periods of trade tension — although such a move is considered unlikely in the short term.
“It’s not the base case,” Alamariu said, “but it’s not impossible.”
China has told the UN Security Council that US ‘military adventurism’ in the Middle East will push the region into chaos, as President Donald Trump continues to threaten strikes on Iran if it does not submit to his demands.
Published On 29 Jan 202629 Jan 2026
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WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the door open Wednesday to future U.S. military action in Venezuela, telling lawmakers that while the Trump administration does not anticipate further escalation, the president retains the authority to use force if Venezuela’s interim leadership or other American adversaries defy U.S. demands.
Rubio’s remarks came hours after President Trump deployed what he called a “massive armada” to pressure Iran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons program, amid broader questions about how recent U.S. tensions with Denmark over Greenland are affecting American relations with NATO allies.
“The president never rules out his options as commander in chief to protect the national interest of the United States,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I can tell you right now with full certainty, we are not postured to, nor do we intend or expect to take any military action in Venezuela at any time.”
The appearance marked Rubio’s first public testimony before a congressional panel since U.S. forces seized former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to New York to face narco-trafficking charges nearly a month ago. Rubio was pressed by Democratic lawmakers over congressional war powers and whether the operation had meaningfully advanced democracy in Venezuela.
“We’ve traded one dictator for another. All the same people are running the country,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Acting President Delcy Rodríguez “has taken no steps to diminish Iran, China or Russia’s considerable influence in Venezuela.”
Rodríguez, who formerly served as Maduro’s vice president, has committed to opening Venezuela’s energy sector to American companies, providing preferential access to production and using revenues to purchase American goods, according to Rubio’s testimony.
But questions remain about Rodríguez’s own alleged ties to trafficking networks. The Associated Press reported that she has been on the DEA’s radar for years for suspected involvement in drug and gold smuggling, though no public criminal charges have been filed.
And despite Trump’s warning that Rodríguez would “pay a very big price” if she does not cooperate, she has pushed back in public against U.S. pressure over trade policy.
“We have the right to have diplomatic relations with China, with Russia, with Iran, with Cuba, with all the peoples of the world. Also with the United States. We are a sovereign nation,” Rodríguez said earlier this month.
Venezuela is among the largest recipients of Chinese loans globally, with more than $100 billion committed over recent decades. Much of that debt has been repaid through discounted oil shipments under an oil-for-loans framework, financing Chinese-backed infrastructure projects and helping stabilize successive Venezuelan governments.
U.S. military leaders have warned Congress about Iran’s growing strategic presence in the hemisphere, including concerns over ballistic missile capabilities and the supply of attack and surveillance drones to Venezuela.
“If an Iranian drone factory pops up and threatens our forces in the region,” Rubio said, “the president retains the option to eliminate that.”
Democrats also argued that the administration’s broader foreign policy is undercutting U.S. economic strength and alliances, particularly in competition with China.
Despite Trump’s tariff campaign, China posted a record global trade surplus in 2025, lawmakers noted, while estimates show U.S. manufacturing employment has declined by tens of thousands of jobs since the tariffs took effect.
Senators pushed back on the State Department’s assertion that U.S. policy has unified allies against China, arguing instead that tariffs and recent military escalations involving Greenland, Iran and Venezuela have strained relations with key partners. They pointed to Canada as an example, noting that Ottawa recently reached a trade deal with China amid concerns about the reliability of the United States as a partner.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a Republican dissenter on Venezuela, rejected the Trump administration’s framing of Maduro’s capture as a law enforcement operation rather than an act of war.
He pressed Rubio on congressional authorization.
“If we said that a foreign country invaded our capital, bombed all our air defense — which would be an extensive bombing campaign, and it was — removed our president, and then blockaded the country, we would think it was an act of war,” Paul said as he left the hearing.
Congressional Republicans voted to dismiss a war powers resolution earlier this month that would have limited Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela after two GOP senators reversed course on supporting the legislation.
They did so based on informal assurances from the administration that it would consult members of Congress before taking military action.
“I was a big fan of [congressional] consultation when I was sitting over there,” Rubio said, joking about his tenure as a senator on the committee. “Now, you know, it’s a different job, different time.”
The War Powers Act dictates how the executive must manage military operations, including that the administration must notify Congress within 48 hours of a military operation.
“And if it’s going to last longer than 60 days, we have to come to Congress with it. We don’t anticipate either of these things having to happen,” Rubio said.
He added that the administration’s end goal is “a friendly, stable, prosperous Venezuela,” and cautioned that free and fair elections would take time as the administration works with Rodríguez to stabilize the country.
“You can have elections all day, but if the opposition has no access to the media … those aren’t free and fair elections,” Rubio said. “There’s a percentage of the Venezuelan population … that may not have liked Maduro, but are still committed to Chavista ideology. They’ll be represented in that platform as well.”
Rubio fell short of providing concrete timelines, prompting skepticism from lawmakers who cited ongoing reports that political prisoners remain jailed and that opposition figures such as Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado would still be blocked from seeking office. He will meet with Machado this week to discuss her role in the ongoing regime change.
“I’ve known Maria Corina for probably 12 or 13 years,” Rubio said. “I’ve dealt with her probably more than anybody.”
But the reality on the ground remains difficult, he said, adding the administration has hedged its bets on the existing Venezuelan government to comply with U.S. efforts to stabilize the economy and weed out political violence before fair elections can be held.
“The people that control the guns and the institutions of government there are in the hands of this regime,” Rubio said.
Foreign minister announces apparent reversal of France’s stance, saying Iran protest crackdown ‘cannot go unanswered’.
France has said it supports the European Union’s push to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation”, reversing earlier opposition to the move.
In a statement shared on social media on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot appeared to link the planned designation to the Iranian authorities’ recent crackdown on antigovernment protests across the country.
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“The unbearable repression of the Iranian people’s peaceful uprising cannot go unanswered. Their extraordinary courage in the face of the violence that has been unleashed upon them cannot be in vain,” Barrot wrote on X.
“With our European partners, we will take action tomorrow in Brussels against those responsible for these atrocities. They will be banned from European territory and their assets will be frozen,” he said.
“France will support the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European list of terrorist organisations.”
EU foreign ministers are meeting on Thursday in Brussels, where they are expected to sign off on the new sanctions against the IRGC.
The move, being led by Italy, is likely to be approved politically, although it needs unanimity among the bloc’s 27 member-states.
Established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the IRGC is a branch of the country’s military that answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It oversees the Iranian missile and nuclear programmes and plays a central role in Iran’s defence as well as its foreign operations and influence in the wider region.
While some EU member countries have previously pushed for the IRGC to be added to the EU’s “terrorist” list, others, led by France, have been more cautious.
They feared such a move could lead to a complete break in ties with Iran, impacting diplomatic missions, and also hurting negotiations to release European citizens held in Iranian prisons.
Paris has been especially worried about the fate of two of its citizens currently living at the embassy in Tehran after being released from prison last year.
The push by the EU to sanction the IRGC comes amid global criticism of a crackdown on a wave of demonstrations in Iran, which broke out last month in response to soaring inflation and an economic crisis.
The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it confirmed at least 6,221 deaths, including at least 5,858 protesters, linked to the weeks-long protest movement while it is investigating 12,904 others.
Iran’s government has put the death toll at 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and members of the country’s security forces and labelling the rest as “terrorists”.
Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify these figures.
The protests also spurred renewed tensions between Iran and the US, as US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to launch an attack against the country in recent weeks.
Trump designated the IRGC as a “terrorist” group in 2019 during his first term in office.
Canada and Australia did the same in 2024 and in November of last year, respectively.
Iran has warned of “destructive consequences” if the EU goes ahead with plans to list the IRGC, and it summoned the Italian ambassador over Rome’s spearheading of the move.
Tehran, Iran – The Iranian government is putting into place contingency plans for basic governance as the threat of another war with the United States and Israel looms large.
President Masoud Pezeshkian gathered governors of Iran’s border provinces as well as his economy minister in Tehran on Tuesday to delegate some responsibilities to the governors if a war breaks out, state media reported. A working group was also formed, tasked with ensuring the increased flow of essential goods, particularly food.
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The governors have been given authority to import goods without using foreign currency, engage in bartering and allow sailors to bring in products under simplified customs rules, according to the government-run IRNA news agency.
“In addition to importing essential goods, governors now have the authority to bring in all goods that are directly linked with the livelihoods of the people and the needs of the market in order to balance the market and prevent hoarding,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying at the meeting.
“Through enforcing this policy, a considerable part of the pressures resulting from the cruel sanctions are neutralised,” he said in reference to harsh restrictions imposed by the US as well as United Nations sanctions reimposed in September, which the Iranian government blames for the economic crisis the country is going through.
But while the government resorts to focusing on the basics, nearly all of Iran’s 90 million people and all sectors of the country’s beleaguered economy continue to suffer from an unprecedented internet shutdown.
The digital blackout was imposed by the theocratic state on January 8 as nationwide protests reached a boiling point, followed by the killings of thousands of Iranians.
The intranet set up to offer some basic services during the state-imposed shutdown is slow and has failed to shore up online businesses. Traditional shops are also struggling to bring in customers.
Amid a large deployment of armed security personnel, most shops are now open in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar – where the protests against the poor economic conditions started on December 28 – and other downtown business districts.
But a shopkeeper at the Grand Bazaar told Al Jazeera that business activity is a fraction of what it was several weeks ago.
“There’s not much life and energy in the markets these days,” he said on the condition of anonymity. “The worst thing is that everything is still so unpredictable. You can see that in the currency rate too.”
Iran’s rial has been in freefall after markets partially reopened this week, degrading trust in the national currency.
The rial hit a new all-time low of about 1.6 million per US dollar on Wednesday. Each greenback had changed hands for about 700,000 rials a year ago and about 900,000 in mid-2025.
However, Central Bank of Iran chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said at the meeting with the governors in Tehran that the currency market was “following its natural course”.
He said $2.25bn worth of foreign currency deals have in recent weeks been registered in a state-run market set up to manage imports and exports, which he described as an “acceptable and considerable figure”.
The comments from Hemmati – who was also the Central Bank chief from 2018 to 2021 and was impeached as economy minister in March – immediately drew fire from the ultraconservative Keyhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is directly appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The newspaper said his comments run counter to the reality in the tumultuous currency market as well as Hemmati’s promises of price stability for essential goods when he re-emerged as the Central Bank governor last month.
While dealing with foreign pressure, Pezeshkian’s government has also been hounded by hardliners at home who have demanded immediate changes to his relatively moderate cabinet.
The infighting became so serious that the supreme leader publicly intervened, telling lawmakers in parliament and other officials during a speech last week that they are “forbidden” from “insulting” the president at a time when the country must focus on providing essential goods to the people.
For his part, Pezeshkian has kept his rhetoric focused solely on “combating corruption” through an initiative that has eliminated a subsidised currency rate used for imports of certain goods, including food.
Pezeshkian’s government argued the subsidised allocated currency was being misused by state-linked organisations. The scheme was supposed to deliver cheaper imported food, but that has not been the case.
The money freed up by the initiative has been distributed as electronic coupons among Iranians to buy food from select stores at prices set by the government.
But each citizen will get only 10 million rials per month for four months. That figure amounted to just over $7 when it was announced during the protests early this month, but it is now worth closer to $6 as the fall of the national currency further erodes purchasing power.
To add insult to injury, the announcement of the subsidy scheme contributed to an abrupt tripling or quadrupling of prices for some essential goods, including cooking oil and eggs. Iran’s annual inflation rate remains untamed at nearly 50 percent and has been on a rising trajectory in recent months.
The top two state-run carmakers, which hold a large monopoly in Iran’s auto industry, have also been positioning themselves for yet another price hike as the end of the Iranian calendar year approaches in March.
One of the firms, Iran Khodro, said on Tuesday that it would increase prices by up to 60 percent while local media reported that the other, Saipa, was expected to follow suit. The government has reportedly intervened to delay or slow the price hikes.
TEDPIX, the main index of the Tehran Stock Exchange, continued its recent decline on Wednesday, losing 30,000 points to stand at 3,980,000. The index was at an all-time high of 4,500,000 last week, having made gains in early January.
Fears of a US attack on Iran are again heightened after Donald Trump demanded Tehran submit to his demands or face an attack “like with Venezuela.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasised that regional instability ‘benefits no one’ during the call.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has held a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a United States aircraft carrier arrived in the region amid growing fears of a new conflict with Israel or the US.
The US has indicated in recent weeks that it is considering an attack against Iran in response to Tehran’s crackdown on protesters, which left thousands of people dead, and US President Donald Trump has sent the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the region.
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Pezeshkian hit out at US “threats” in the call with the Saudi leader on Tuesday, saying they were “aimed at disrupting the security of the region and will achieve nothing other than instability”.
“The president pointed to recent pressures and hostilities against Iran, including economic pressure and external interference, stating that such actions had failed to undermine the resilience and awareness of the Iranian people,” according to a statement from Pezeshkian’s office on Tuesday.
The statement said that Prince Mohammed “welcomed the dialogue and reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to regional stability, security, and development”.
“He emphasised the importance of solidarity among Islamic countries and stated that Riyadh rejects any form of aggression or escalation against Iran,” it said, adding that he had expressed Riyadh’s readiness to establish “peace and security across the region”.
The call between the two leaders comes after Trump repeatedly threatened to attack Iran during a deadly crackdown on antigovernment protests this month. Last week, he dispatched an “armada” towards Iran but said he hoped he would not have to use it.
Amid growing fears of a new war, a commander from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday issued a warning to Iran’s neighbours.
“Neighbouring countries are our friends, but if their soil, sky, or waters are used against Iran, they will be considered hostile,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh, political deputy of the IRGC naval forces, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
Israel carried out a wave of attacks on Iran last June, targeting several senior military officials and nuclear scientists, as well as nuclear facilities. The US then joined the 12-day war to bombard three nuclear sites in Iran.
The war came on the eve of a round of planned negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Since the conflict, Trump has reiterated demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear programme and halt uranium enrichment, but talks have not resumed.
On Monday, a US official said that Washington was “open for business” for Iran.
“I think they know the terms,” the official told reporters when asked about talks with Iran. “They’re aware of the terms.”
Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the odds of Iran surrendering to the US’s demands are “near zero”.
Iran’s leaders believe “compromise under pressure doesn’t alleviate it but rather invites more”, Vaez said.
But while the US builds up its presence in the region, Iran has warned that it would retaliate if an attack is launched.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned on Tuesday that the consequences of a strike on Iran could affect the region as a whole.
Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters, “Regional countries fully know that any security breach in the region will not affect Iran only. The lack of security is contagious.”
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem went to the site where the US-Iranian relationship took a drastic turn for the worse in 1979.
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Verified videos emerging from Iran show bodies piled up in a hospital, snipers stationed on buildings and CCTV cameras being destroyed, following the unprecedented crackdown on protests earlier this month.
BBC Verify has been tracking the spread of protests across Iran since they first erupted in late December, but the near total internet blackout imposed by the authorities has made it extremely difficult to document the scale of the state’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed the killing of nearly 6,000 people, including 5,633 protesters, since the unrest began at the end of December. It says it is also currently investigating another 17,000 reported deaths received despite an internet shutdown after nearly three weeks.
Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.
Iranian authorities said last week that more than 3,100 people were killed, but that the majority were security personnel or bystanders attacked by “rioters”.
The latest videos to emerge from the country are understood to have been filmed on 8 and 9 January, when thousands of people took to the streets following a call for nationwide protests from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah.
They are thought to be the deadliest nights for protesters so far and these newly verified videos show how Iran’s security forces have been violently cracking down on protesters.
Multiple clips analysed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian show bodies piled up inside a mortuary at Tehranpars hospital in east Tehran. We verified the location of the hospital by matching its interior to other publicly available images and videos of the building, and counted at least 31 bodies in just one video. Another clip shows seven body bags laid on the ground outside the hospital’s entrance.
Hundreds of people are seen protesting on a highway in west Tehran in another video before multiple rounds of gunfire can be heard and people begin to scream.
Protesters have also been seen trying to evade Iran’s heavy surveillance infrastructure by disabling CCTV cameras. Footage we verified shows one person in the capital climbing up a post and hitting a surveillance camera several times in an attempt to disable it. A huge crowd of protesters can be seen on the ground and heard cheering as the camera is damaged.
We have tracked the spread of the anti-government protests across 71 towns and cities in Iran, though the true number of areas where demonstrations have taken place is likely far higher.
In the south-eastern city of Kerman a video taken from high up in a building shows several armed men in military uniform walking down a road firing their weapons continuously, though it is not clear who they are shooting at. A small fire burns in the middle of the road while the sound of protesters chanting can be heard in the background.
Snipers have also been recorded on the roofs of buildings. In the north-eastern city of Mashhad verified video shows two men dressed in black on a rooftop of a building in daylight. One man is standing next to a large rifle that is lent against a wall and speaking on the phone. The other man crouches on the floor while smoking.
For most people there has been an almost-total internet blackout since 8 January, but some have managed to briefly access the internet using methods such as SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet and virtual private networks (VPNs).
More videos are likely to emerge in the coming days as the country’s economy has struggled during the blackout.
Additional reporting BBC Persian.
Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities continue to warn of serious ramifications in case of military strikes by the United States, as more people are being arrested in connection with deadly protests amid a lingering internet blackout.
Tehran’s municipality on Sunday unveiled a giant billboard at the Enghelab (Revolution) Square in the capital’s central area, in an apparent warning to the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln supercarrier and supporting warplanes near Iranian waters.
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The image showed a bird’s-eye view of an aircraft carrier with destroyed fighter jets on the deck and blood running in the water to form the US flag.
“If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind,” read an accompanying message in Farsi and English.
Top military figures on Monday reiterated Iran’s readiness to engage in another war with Israel and the US in the case of an attack similar to last year’s 12-day conflict, while the Foreign Ministry promised a “comprehensive and regret-inducing response”.
Speaking to reporters during a news conference, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei also warned “the resulting insecurity will undoubtedly affect everyone” amid reports regional actors have been directly appealing to US President Donald Trump, who on Thursday said a US “armada” is heading towards the Gulf.
As the European Union ponders listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist” organisation following a vote in the European Parliament, Baghaei said Tehran believes “more prudent European countries should be careful not to fall into the trap of the devilish temptations of non-European parties toward such an action”.
The Iranian establishment’s remaining allies in the so-called “axis of resistance”, who took no action during June’s war, have also signalled that they may this time attack US and Israeli interests if conflict breaks out.
Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the chief of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, issued a fiery statement on Monday warning of “total war” in case of US aggression. Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem has repeatedly heaped praise on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, including during a speech on Monday.
The Houthis in Yemen also released a video on Monday that showed US warships and previously attacked commercial vessels, indicating that they could once again become targets despite a Gaza ceasefire deal that stopped the attacks.
Meanwhile, judicial and intelligence authorities continue to report action against “rioters” as the Iranian establishment blames “terrorists” working in line with the interests of the US and Israel during the nationwide protests that started in late December.
Mohammadreza Rahmani, the head of the police authority in the northern province of Gilan, announced 99 new arrests in a statement on Sunday.
He alleged that those arrested were engaged in destroying public property or acted as “leaders” of unrest both on the streets and on social media.
State media said a person “who incited people, especially the youth”, in online posts to participate in protests was arrested in Bandar Anzali, also in the north.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which says it has confirmed 5,848 deaths during the protests, reported on Monday that at least 41,283 people have also been arrested across the country.
Iranian authorities have not announced any official arrest numbers, but said last week that at least 3,117 people were killed during the protests, including 2,427 described as “innocent” protesters or security forces.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify these figures.
Speaking during a meeting with top judiciary officials on Monday, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei reiterated his promise that “no mercy” will be shown when prosecuting protest-related cases.
He also expressed dismay at any calls for negotiations with the US amid what he called “an all-out war and economic blockade” against Iran.
“Some people portray all avenues for confronting the enemy’s aggression and coercion as blocked and repeatedly prescribe negotiation with a treacherous enemy,” he said.
Iranians across the country remain afflicted by an unprecedented total internet shutdown that has now lasted nearly three weeks.
A limited number of users have been able to tunnel out using proxies and virtual private networks (VPNs), but the authorities continue to block any proxies offering access to the outside world.
As with previous protests, internet access can only be restored through permission by the Supreme National Security Council, but the council has provided no timeline for reconnecting Iran’s 90-million-strong population.
In the meantime, the state appears to be gearing up to implement its longtime plans to enforce a so-called “tiered internet” that would only allow access to a limited number of permitted individuals and entities.
This week in Tehran, the authorities set up a small office to allow businesspeople who have identification from the Iran Chamber of Commerce to gain limited access to the internet.
Before being allowed to use the internet for a few minutes, they had to sign a form that committed them to use the connection for “business purposes” only, and emphasised they would be legally prosecuted if they “misuse” the opportunity.
A similar small office has also been opened for journalists by the Culture Ministry.
The rest of the population only has access to a local intranet designed to offer some basic services during state-imposed internet blackouts, but even that connection is slow and patchy.