Iran regime opened fire with live ammunition on protesters, doctor says: ‘Shoot-to-kill’
Iranian security forces escalated from pellet guns to live ammunition during protests, sharply increasing casualties, a doctor who treated wounded demonstrators told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Speaking after fleeing the country, the doctor told CHRI the use of live fire increased the death toll days after protests erupted Dec. 28.
“Law enforcement forces were firing pellet shotguns that scatter pellets. During those days, I received five or six calls per day about people who had been hit by two pellets in the back or pellets to the head or scalp,” the doctor claimed.
The doctor said he noticed the situation shifted on Jan. 8, when authorities imposed internet blackouts and cut off communication nationwide.
NETANYAHU AND RUBIO DISCUSS US MILITARY INTERVENTION IN IRAN AMID ONGOING NATIONWIDE PROTESTS: REPORT
“From about 8:10 to 8:20 pm, the sound of bullets, gunfire, screams, and sporadic explosions could be heard. I was called to the hospital. When I arrived, I saw that the nature of the injuries and the number of gunshot wounds had changed completely,” the doctor said of the days around the blackout.
“The situation was totally different. Shots from close range, injuries leading to death.”
Human rights groups say thousands have been killed as security forces moved to suppress the demonstrations, with some estimates placing the death toll above 3,000, Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported Tuesday.
The protests were fueled by anger over economic hardship, rising prices and inflation before expanding into broader anti-government demonstrations.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ‘STARTING TO’ CROSS US RED LINES AS PROTESTERS DIE IN GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN
“The calls I received on my home phone for medical advice were no longer about pellet wounds,” the doctor said. “People were saying they had been shot, with bullets entering one side of the body and exiting the other. Live ammunition.”
Describing scenes in Isfahan, which is a major protest hub, the doctor said streets were stained with blood as security forces deployed heavier weapons.
“A large amount of blood, about a liter, had pooled in the gutter and blood trails extended for several meters,” the doctor claimed.
“The level and intensity of violence increased step by step,” he said before describing a change in aggression on Jan. 9.
IRANIAN HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED WITH INJURIES AS PROTESTS RAGE ACROSS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
“On Friday night, I heard automatic gunfire. I am familiar with weapons and can distinguish their sounds. I heard DShK heavy machine guns. I heard PK machine guns.
“These weapons are in the possession of IRGC units — DShKs, PK machine guns, and Kalashnikovs,” the doctor said. “The trauma cases I saw were brutal, shoot-to-kill.”
Victims ranged from teenagers to elderly men, the doctor said. Some injuries were so severe that bodies were unrecognizable.
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“One colleague said that during a night shift, eight bodies were brought in with gunshot wounds to the face; their faces were unrecognizable. Many bodies are not identifiable at all,” he added.
The account comes as President Donald Trump publicly voiced support for Iranian protesters.
On Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to “take over” their institutions, saying he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the crackdown ends.
Trump envoy reportedly meets with exiled Iranian prince as regime faces protests
White House envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly held a secret meeting with exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi over the weekend as the regime faces intensifying protests.
The alleged meeting was first reported by Axios, which cited a senior U.S. official, and said the conversation occurred over the weekend. This would represent the first high-level meeting between the Trump administration and the Iranian opposition since the anti-regime protests erupted 15 days ago. Axios noted that Pahlavi has been trying to paint himself as the “transitional” leader if the regime falls.
Pahlavi’s father, the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was deposed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which transformed the country from a monarchy to an Islamic republic.
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A U.S. senior official who reportedly spoke to Axios was surprised that Pahlavi’s name was being chanted at many of the demonstrations.
“There has been an ascendance of Pahlavi. They are chanting his name in demonstrations in many cities and it seems to be happening organically,” the U.S. official told Axios.
Pahlavi has recently urged President Donald Trump to intervene, praising him as a “man of peace.”
“Mr. President, this is an urgent and immediate call for your attention, support, and action,” Pahlavi wrote in a Jan. 9 post on X. He accused Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of using the blackout to carry out a brutal crackdown and encouraged Trump to “be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran.”
IRAN REGIME FACES ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ AS EXILED CROWN PRINCE SEES ‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’
Trump recently said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt that Iran has “been told very strongly, even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now, that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” according to The Associated Press. However, in the same interview, the president seemed to cast doubt on the idea that he would meet with Pahlavi. Witkoff’s meeting would present a significant departure from the president’s recent statements.
While the president has yet to take a public stance in favor of Pahlavi, he has been open about his support for the people of Iran.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!”
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In the early days of the protests, Trump warned the regime that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” and ready to take action if the Iranian government used violence against protesters. However, the U.S. has yet to make concrete moves despite reports of protesters being killed and Trump’s latest statement.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Iranian student shot in head at close range amid protests, body buried along roadside
A 23-year-old student was shot in the head at close range during protests in Iran, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, as the regime continues its violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations.
Rubina Aminian, a student of textile and fashion design at Shariati Technical and Vocational College for Girls in Tehran, was killed Jan. 8 after leaving college and joining the protests in the capital, according to Iran Human Rights.
She is among the few victims of the recent unrest whose identity has been publicly confirmed.
“Sources close to Rubina’s family, citing eyewitnesses, told Iran Human Rights that the young Kurdish woman from Marivan was shot from close range from behind, with the bullet striking her head,” the group said in a statement.
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Following her death, Aminian’s family traveled from their home in Kermanshah, western Iran, to Tehran to identify her body.
According to sources cited by Iran Human Rights, the family was taken to a location near the college where they saw the bodies of hundreds of young people allegedly killed during the protests.
“Most of the victims were young people between 18 and 22 years old, who had been shot at close range in the head and neck by government forces,” a source close to the family said.
IRAN PROTESTS GROW DEADLIER AS REGIME INTERNET BLACKOUT FAILS TO STOP UPRISING
The family was reportedly initially barred from identifying Aminian’s body and later prevented from taking her remains, the group said.
After extensive efforts, relatives were eventually allowed to retrieve her body and return to Kermanshah.
When they got there, intelligence forces reportedly surrounded the family home and would not allow a burial to take place.
According to Iran Human Rights, the family was forced to bury Aminian’s body along the roadside between Kermanshah and the nearby city of Kamyaran.
IRANIANS ABLE TO MAKE SOME INTERNATIONAL CALLS AS INTERNET REMAINS BLOCKED AMID PROTESTS
The family has also not been permitted to hold mourning ceremonies, and several mosques in Marivan were reportedly disallowed from hosting memorial services.
Iran’s spiraling anti-government protests have been driven by widespread anger over political repression and economic hardship, including rising inflation.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated Tuesday that over 16,700 people have been detained.
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Other rights groups have reported extremely high death tolls, with some estimates exceeding 3,000, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
Iran Human Rights described Aminian in a statement as “a young woman full of joy for life and passionate about fashion and clothing design, whose dreams were buried by the violent repression of the Islamic Republic.”
Trump says the U.S. will take ‘very strong action’ against Iran if the regime starts hanging protesters
President Donald Trump warned his administration will take “very strong action” against Iran if the regime begins hanging protesters.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen,” Trump told CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil Tuesday.
“And, you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing. When they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging, we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good,” he continued.
IRAN GOES DARK AS REGIME UNLEASHES FORCE, CYBER TOOLS TO CRUSH PROTESTS
Dokoupil began the exchange by asking Trump what he meant with his viral declaration to the Iranian people that “help is on the way.”
“Well, there’s a lot of help on the way and in different forms, including economic help from our standpoint, and not gonna help Iran very much,” Trump responded. “And we put Iran out of business with their nuclear capacity, and, now, depending on what’s actually happening, nobody’s been able to give us accurate numbers about how many people they’ve killed. But it looks like it could be a pretty substantial number. And that’s gonna be a lot of problems for them.”
IRAN STATE TV ACKNOWLEDGES ‘A LOT OF MARTYRS’ AS DEATH TOLL SURPASSES 3,000: REPORT
The CBS anchor then mentioned the regime’s alleged threat of hanging protesters beginning Wednesday, pressing Trump whether that would cross his “red line.”
“I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you’re gonna see some things that — I don’t know where you come from and what your thought process is, but you’ll perhaps be very happy,” Trump said.
“What do you mean by that?” Dokoupil asked.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing. We will take very strong action,” Trump responded.
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Iran goes dark as regime unleashes force, cyber tools to crush protests
When protests have erupted across Iran, the government’s first response has often been not dialogue but darkness.
In recent days, Iranian authorities have imposed sweeping internet and communications blackouts, expanded the use of surveillance drones, and deployed security forces to suppress demonstrators, according to analysts and human rights groups who say Tehran, Iran, is refining a playbook designed to smother dissent before it can spread.
A nationwide internet blackout has now persisted for five days, with connectivity at near-zero levels, according to global internet monitor NetBlocks. And local authorities are also disrupting satellite internet such as Starlink to further limit Iranians’ ability to communicate.
Iran moves quickly to smother protests before they spread
The objective, analysts say, is speed.
“The Islamic Republic only has one answer for the protesters,” Jason Brodsky, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital. “The only way out of this mess that it has created for the Iranian people is by cracking down on them — more violence and more repression.”
Since the start of 2026, Iran has been rocked by anti-government protests driven by economic hardship, political repression and anger at the country’s clerical leadership, with demonstrations spreading well beyond major cities into smaller towns and rural areas. High inflation, unemployment and frustration over social restrictions have fueled unrest across generational and regional lines, challenging the regime’s claim that opposition is confined to isolated urban pockets.
Brodsky said Iran’s leadership has learned from previous protest waves that allowing unrest to gain momentum — or visibility — can quickly spiral beyond its control. In 2019 and again in 2022, demonstrations expanded rapidly once images of violence spread online, drawing international scrutiny and pressure.
That experience, he said, has shaped how the regime responds now.
“This is a very well-worn playbook that the Islamic Republic employs,” Brodsky said, describing a layered security response designed to contain protests early. Iranian police are typically deployed first, with more powerful forces such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij militia, Iran’s volunteer paramilitary force, held in reserve.
Alongside communications blackouts and arrests, Iranian authorities also are leaning more heavily on surveillance technology to track protesters — including the use of drones to monitor crowds and identify individuals.
IRAN CRACKDOWN RATTLES MIDDLE EAST AS ANALYSTS WEIGH US OPTIONS SHORT OF MILITARY INTERVENTION
Brodsky said the Iranian regime increasingly relies on aerial surveillance and digital tracking tools to gather intelligence during demonstrations, allowing security forces to identify participants even after crowds disperse.
“They’re trying to collect intelligence on who is involved,” he said, describing efforts to map protest networks and determine how demonstrations are being organized.
United Nations investigators previously have documented Iran’s expanding use of technology-enabled repression, including surveillance drones, facial recognition software and digital tracking systems aimed at identifying dissidents. Rights groups say that data collected during protests is often used later to carry out arrests, intimidation and prosecutions.
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Killings and imprisonments reportedly skyrocketed over the weekend and the start of this week. At least 3,000 people have been killed, Fox News’ Trey Yingst has reported, and the real figure is likely to be higher. More than 10,000 people have been arrested.
By comparison, Iran security forces killed 500+ people in a months-long protest crackdown over 2022 and 2023, according to the State Department, and 300 people during a 2019 protest wave, according to Amnesty International.
As Iran represses protests, Washington weighs its options
As President Donald Trump weighs strike options in Iran, the U.S. still has a broad range of non-kinetic tools at its disposal.
Information and cyber warfare may be the most effective non-kinetic options, particularly as Tehran relies on internet shutdowns, surveillance and digital command-and-control systems to suppress dissent.
IRAN’S COLLAPSE OR SURVIVAL HINGES ON ONE CHOICE INSIDE THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD
“The U.S. has a very robust offensive cyber capability,” Brodsky said.
Those capabilities were on display during an operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro earlier in January, when the U.S. launched a cyberattack that scrambled communications and power sources in Caracas, Venezuela.
“It could also jam the command and control apparatus of the regime.”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, cautioned that U.S. action aimed at supporting protesters could backfire if it is poorly targeted or perceived as disconnected from the crackdown on the streets.
He said strikes that cause civilian casualties or focus on unrelated strategic targets could push Iranians into “survival mode,” reducing protest activity rather than fueling it. By contrast, Taleblu argued that actions directly aimed at the regime’s repression apparatus — including systems used to jam communications — are more likely to be seen and felt by protesters themselves.
“An intermediate option could be kinetic or cyberattacks against the infrastructure supporting the military jamming the regime is doing to Starlink.”
The U.S. could also “creatively declassify intelligence to assist the protesters and give them a heads up on danger and other efforts,” Brodsky said.
Trump has said he would speak with Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran through Musk’s Starlink technology.
Starlink can bypass state-controlled infrastructure, but it requires physical terminals on the ground — a major constraint in a country where such equipment is illegal and aggressively targeted by security forces.
Iran has also shown it is willing to jam satellite signals and hunt for Starlink terminals, turning connectivity into a cat-and-mouse game that carries serious risks for users. Rights groups warn that Iranians caught using satellite internet have faced arrest and harsh punishment.
But analysts say the latest crackdown has left many Iranians more defiant than fearful.
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“There is an increasing fearlessness among the Iranian people that has become much more palpable and tangible in every round of protests that we’ve seen in recent years. And it’s very difficult to get the genie back in the bottle for the regime once the fear factor has been eroded,” Brodsky said.
Through the 12-Day War and Israel’s offensive campaign on its proxies, “the regime’s deterrence has been eroded,” he added.
Graham suggests Trump ‘help’ Iran protesters with ‘military, cyber and psychological attacks’ against regime
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday suggested that the “meat and bones” of President Donald Trump’s message of “help” to Iran’s anti-regime demonstrators should include “military, cyber and psychological attacks” against the regime.
Graham issued the message in a post on X, describing Trump as “Reagan Plus” and “certainly not Obama” when it comes to protecting America’s national security interests.
“There is no bigger threat to world order than the Iranian ayatollah’s religious Nazi regime that wantonly kills its people, supports international terrorism and has American blood on its hands,” Graham wrote. “The death blow to the ayatollah is going to be a combination of the incredible patriotic bravery of the protestors, and decisive action by President Trump. The protestors go to the streets unarmed, risking their lives because they believe President Trump has their backs.”
Graham wrote that the “tipping point” will be Trump’s “resolve.”
LIZ PEEK: TRUMP IS PUTTING AMERICA FIRST BY BACKING IRAN INTO A CORNER
“No boots on the ground, but unleashing holy hell – as he promised – on the regime that has trampled every red line,” the senator wrote. “A massive wave of military, cyber and psychological attacks is the meat and bones of ‘help is on the way.’”
Graham said he would want to destroy the regime’s infrastructure that allows the killing of the Iranian people, and to “take down” the leaders responsible for the killing.
“The Iranian people’s long nightmare will soon be over,” he wrote.
‘LEAVE IRAN NOW’: US EMBASSY POSTS WARNING TO AMERICANS STILL IN THE COUNTRY
Graham was responding to an announcement Trump earlier made on social media.
Trump vowed that those responsible for killing anti-regime demonstrators will “pay a big price,” saying he has canceled all meetings with the Iranian regime until its crackdown on unrest ends. Iran had previously claimed it was in contact with U.S. officials amid the protests.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added.
As Trump later toured a Ford factory in Detroit, FOX Business White House correspondent Edward Lawrence asked him what kind of “help” he meant.
“You’re going to have to figure that one out,” Trump replied.
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Since the unrest broke out, Iranian authorities have killed at least 646 protesters, with thousands more deaths expected to be confirmed. Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported Tuesday that there are reports of at least 3,000 Iranians being killed, though the real number is likely to be higher.
Iran state TV acknowledges ‘a lot of martyrs’ as death toll surpasses 3,000: report
Iranian state television acknowledged Tuesday that the Islamic Republic has lost “a lot of martyrs” in ongoing anti-government protests sweeping the country, a report said.
The development comes as at least 2,000 people have been killed in the demonstrations, according to an activist group. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced that 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be even higher.
A news anchor on Iranian state TV read a statement claiming “armed and terrorist groups” led the country “to present a lot of martyrs to God,” The Associated Press reported. Iranian state TV said officials will hold a funeral Wednesday for the “martyrs and security defenders” who have died in the protests.
Iran’s regime has been trying to crack down on the protests, which began in late December with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial. The unrest soon spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces.
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“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.
The U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran issued a warning earlier today telling American citizens who are still in the country to leave immediately.
President Donald Trump later urged the people of Iran to “take over” the country’s institutions, saying he has canceled all meetings with the Iranian regime until its crackdown on unrest ends.
IRAN’S ‘DISTINCTIVE’ DRONE DEPLOYMENT SEES DEATH TOLL SOAR AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS
Trump made the announcement on social media, vowing that those responsible for killing anti-regime demonstrators will “pay a big price.” Iran had previously claimed it was in contact with U.S. officials amid the protests.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
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“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added.
Iranian dissident unloads on American left’s silence on deadly protests
Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad is accusing the American left of turning its back on Iranian protesters amid reports of thousands of deaths and a near-total communications blackout imposed by the regime.
“The silence of [the] left and liberals in America and Europe is not an accidental silence. It’s an ideological silence,” Alinejad said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”
Alinejad, who has been targeted by the Iranian regime for her activism, said Western activists and celebrities who loudly champion “Free Palestine” causes have remained silent as Iranians are killed in the streets.
“It will expose their hypocrisy,” she said.
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“It will expose how they sympathize with our killers, with Islamist terrorists.”
Iran’s regime is facing one of the largest anti-government movements in years. Iranian rights groups say thousands have been killed as security forces move to suppress demonstrations, with some estimates putting the death toll above 3,000, Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported Monday.
She accused Western figures of helping the regime by portraying protesters’ calls for regime change as a foreign plot led by Israel or President Donald Trump.
IRAN’S ‘DISTINCTIVE’ DRONE DEPLOYMENT SEES DEATH TOLL SOAR AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS
“You are playing in the Islamic Republic’s hands, and you are actually putting our lives in danger,” Alinejad said.
The Iranian government has cut off public internet access, leaving the country in near-total communications darkness as thousands demonstrate. Protesters are outraged over the country’s worsening economic situation as the value of its currency continues to fall.
“I don’t even know if my family are alive or not. People do not have cell phones, they do not have landlines, they do not have access to [the] internet,” said Alinejad.
She warned that those who remain silent on supporting Iranians against the regime will ultimately be judged by history.
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On Monday, Trump announced that any country that continues to do business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on all trade with the United States.
Trump has also sharply criticized the regime’s actions, warning that Iran is “starting to” cross red lines in its treatment of protesters and that the U.S. is considering “very strong options.”
Lindsey Graham goes scorched earth on ‘piece of crap’ DNC chair over Iran-US comparisons
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went off on Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin Monday for comparing the United States under President Donald Trump to Iran’s repressive regime, calling him a “worthless piece of crap.”
Graham, who has been supportive of Trump taking possible military action against Iran if it continues to slaughter anti-regime protesters, was clearly angered by Martin’s words during an appearance on “Hannity.”
“Number one, Ken Martin is a worthless piece of crap,” Graham said. “Can you imagine this guy fighting for freedom? To compare President Trump and the Trump regime to the ayatollah means you got the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome in the world. Go to hell.”
“President Trump is standing with people demanding their freedom. Why are these people in the streets this long? They believe Trump has their back,” he argued.
DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE CHAIR COMPARES US TO IRAN, CLAIMS BOTH ARE ‘KILLING PROTESTERS’
“And the leader of the Democratic Party — you’re sick, pal. Where are the Democrats? You cheer on Hamas, who wants to kill the Jews. Now you got people in Iran like the crown prince who want to be our friend. But because it may happen on Trump’s watch, you’re belittling the movement,” Graham said.
Graham said that if the repressive regime in Iran falls, America is safer.
Martin made his first comparison on X, expressing support for both protesters in the U.S. and Iran for rising up against “systems that wield violence without accountability.”
“From Tehran to my birthplace of Minneapolis, people are rising up against systems that wield violence without accountability. In Iran, brave protestors confront a far-right theocratic regime that crushes dissent and denies basic freedoms,” Martin wrote.
DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST CALLS OUT PARTY FOR ‘OPPOSE FIRST, THINK LATER’ RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF MADURO
He added, “Here at home, tens of thousands are marching after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good — demanding justice, transparency, and an end to an unchecked federal force that takes lives and tears families apart. Solidarity across borders means opposing authoritarian power everywhere and defending the right to live free from fear and state violence. #StandWithIran #JusticeForReneeGood #EndAuthoritarianism.”
Martin doubled down in another post on X hours later.
“If comparing the U.S. to Iran makes you angry, ask why. Killing protesters. Crushing dissent. Kidnapping and disappearing legal citizens. Ignoring courts. Threatening critics. Terrorizing communities. That’s authoritarian behavior—anywhere. If you’re rushing to defend it, maybe the problem isn’t the comparison. Trump keeps pushing it, Americans aren’t buying it, and Minneapolis won’t be silent,” Martin wrote.
TRUMP HAS THREE STRIKE OPTIONS THAT WOULD AID THE PROTESTERS AND DEVASTATE IRAN
Protests have continued in Iran over the country’s economic freefall, and many have begun to demand regime change as the demonstrations continue.
Thousands have been arrested, according to reports. Agencies have been unable to confirm the total death toll because of an internet blackout as the country’s leaders seek to quell the dissent, but The Associated Press reported that more than 500 were killed.
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US opens new air defense operations cell at Qatar base that Iran targeted in retaliatory attack
The U.S. military and its regional partners opened a new air defense operations cell in Qatar to “enhance integrated air and missile defense,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Tuesday, as tensions are escalating in Iran.
The cell was opened at Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha – the same base that Iran targeted in a retaliatory attack last June following U.S. strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
The base is home to 10,000 American forces and is the U.S.’s largest military installation in the Middle East. Located southwest of Doha, it serves as a hub for logistical operations for the U.S. mission to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
“This is a significant step forward in strengthening regional defense cooperation,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement on Tuesday. “This cell will improve how regional forces coordinate and share air and missile defense responsibilities across the Middle East.”
FLASHBACK: IRAN ATTACKS US BASE IN QATAR, TRUMP THANKS TEHRAN FOR ADVANCE NOTICE AND ‘VERY WEAK RESPONSE’
CENTCOM said the new Middle Eastern Air Defense – Combined Defense Operations Cell is located in the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) and is made up of personnel from the U.S. and its regional partners.
“The Qatar-based CAOC, established more than 20 years ago, currently includes representatives from 17 nations who coordinate the employment of military air assets across the Middle East region,” CENTCOM said.
“U.S. Air Force Central service members will work alongside regional counterparts… in planning multinational exercises, conducting drills, and responding to contingencies,” CENTCOM added. “The cell will also be responsible for sharing information and threat warnings.”
IRANIAN REGIME TARGETING STARLINK USERS IN BID TO SQUASH LEAKING PROTEST FOOTAGE
A U.S. defense official told Fox News Digital last year that Iran had used short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles to attack Al Udeid, but no casualties had been reported.
“Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered. There have been 14 missiles fired — 13 were knocked down, and 1 was ‘set free,’ because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
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More than 2,000 people have been killed in the ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran, according to an activist group. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Tuesday that 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces, The Associated Press reported. Other reports have the death toll higher.
Iran regime faces ‘beginning of the end’ as exiled crown prince sees ‘golden opportunity’
Unrest in Iran signals the “beginning of the end” for the Islamic regime and a “golden opportunity” to finish it once and for all, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said during a Monday appearance on “Hannity.”
“They know they’re on their way down. The decisive blow can be the game-changer and the knockout punch to this regime…” he said.
“We have this golden opportunity now. The regime is on the brink of collapse. Let’s push it over the cliff and be done with them.”
Pahlavi pointed to what he described as growing fractures within Iran’s security forces, saying intelligence reports suggest a multitude of military and paramilitary members have refused to carry out orders to crack down on protesters.
GRAHAM WARNS IRANIAN AYATOLLAH: ‘TRUMP IS GONNA KILL YOU’ IF INTERNAL CRACKDOWN CONTINUES
Those reported fractures, along with sustained public unrest and pressure from the Trump administration, are fueling renewed hope among regime opponents for meaningful change.
“I believe President Trump knows exactly what he’s facing and is not buying into the regime’s last-gasp attempts to promise negotiations,” Pahlavi said.
“Every time they have their backs to the wall, they come back with that line, and nobody’s fooled anymore.”
TRUMP HAS THREE STRIKE OPTIONS THAT WOULD AID THE PROTESTERS AND DEVASTATE IRAN
“I don’t think this administration is fooled by the regime’s feeble attempts to buy time yet again,” he added.
“Time is running out, and this is where the people in the streets are saying, ‘We are the boots on the ground. We don’t need American boots on the ground. Count on us. We’re doing our part. But come to the rescue and help us get rid of them.’”
President Trump voiced support for the protesters in a Truth Social post Saturday, writing that the “USA stands ready to help” as Iran looks at “freedom.”
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The president also said at a news conference last week that the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.
Trump cancels all meetings with Iran, calls on protesters to ‘take over’ the country
President Donald Trump urged the people of Iran to “take over” the country’s institutions on Tuesday, saying he has canceled all meetings with the Iranian regime until its crackdown on unrest ends.
Trump made the announcement on social media, vowing that those responsible for killing anti-regime demonstrators will “pay a big price.” Iran had previously claimed it was in contact with U.S. officials amid the protests.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added.
LIZ PEEK: TRUMP IS PUTTING AMERICA FIRST BY BACKING IRAN INTO A CORNER
Since the unrest broke out, Iranian authorities have killed at least 646 protesters, with thousands more deaths expected to be confirmed. Reuters reported the death toll at 2,000, citing an unnamed Iranian official.
The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran in reaction to the crackdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that diplomacy remains Trump’s first option, but that the president “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary.”
IRAN’S ‘DISTINCTIVE’ DRONE DEPLOYMENT SEES DEATH TOLL SOAR AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS
“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.
Iranian authorities have used deadly force against anti-regime protesters and have cut off public internet access in an effort to stop images and video from spreading across the globe.
The protests represent the highest level of unrest Iran has seen since nationwide protests against the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police in 2022.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz went so far as to predict an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenie’s regime.
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“I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” he told reporters while in India on Tuesday.
“When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime,” he added.
‘Leave Iran now’: US Embassy posts warning to Americans still in the country
The U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran is telling American citizens who are still in the country to leave immediately.
The warning Tuesday comes as more than 2,000 people have been killed in the ongoing anti-government demonstrations, according to an activist group. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces, The Associated Press reported. Other reports have the death toll higher.
“Leave Iran now. Have a plan for departing Iran that does not rely on U.S. government help,” the U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran said on its website, suggesting land crossings into Armenia or Turkey if it is “safe to do so.”
“If you cannot leave, find a secure location within your residence or another safe building. Have a supply of food, water, medications, and other essential items,” it added.
IRAN SET TO HANG PROTESTER IN WHAT WOULD MARK FIRST EXECUTION TIED TO ANTI-REGIME DEMONSTRATIONS
“Protests across Iran are escalating and may turn violent, resulting in arrests and injuries. Increased security measures, road closures, public transportation disruptions, and internet blockages are ongoing,” the embassy also said. “The Government of Iran has restricted access to mobile, landline, and national internet networks. Airlines continue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran, with several suspending service until Friday, January 16.”
The protests began late last month with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial, which lost about half its value against the dollar last year. Inflation topped 40% in December.
IRAN PROTESTS SPARK REGIME SURVIVAL QUESTION AS EXILED DISSIDENT SAYS IT FEELS LIKE A ‘REVOLUTION’
The unrest soon spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces.
“U.S.-Iranian dual nationals must exit Iran on Iranian passports. The Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality and will treat U.S.-Iranian dual nationals solely as Iranian citizens,” according to the embassy. “U.S. nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest, and detention in Iran. Showing a U.S. passport or demonstrating connections to the United States can be reason enough for Iranian authorities to detain someone.”
The embassy also said, “Turkmenistan’s land borders are open, but U.S. citizens need special authorization from the Government of Turkmenistan before approaching the border,” and “U.S. citizens with an urgent need to depart Iran via Azerbaijan should be aware that entry into Azerbaijan from Iran has been restricted for U.S. citizens during periods of heightened tension, such as the June 2025 conflict between Iran and Israel.”
“The U.S. government does not have diplomatic or consular relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran continued. “The Swiss government, acting through its embassy in Tehran, serves as the protecting power for U.S. interests in Iran.”
Prior to the ongoing protests, the State Department issued a “Level 4 – Do not travel” advisory for the Islamic Republic of Iran in December.
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At the time, it urged Americans not to visit the country, “due to the risk of terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest of U.S. citizens, and wrongful detention. “
Iranian regime targeting Starlink users in bid to squash leaking protest footage
Iranian authorities are targeting Starlink users in an effort to shut down leaks of protest footage amid the regime’s ongoing blockade against internet access, human rights groups say.
Iran cut off public internet access as anti-regime protests ramped up last week, leaving Starlink as one of the few ways Iranians can share images about the regime’s deadly crackdown.
Starlink remains illegal in Iran, but rights groups say they have smuggled thousands of Starlink terminals into the country. The government’s efforts to shut down internet access has slowed the service’s connectivity, but users are still able to send footage to trusted third-parties who can then share it to social media, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS
President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he planned to speak with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk about boosting Starlink’s connectivity in Iran.
“He’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company,” Trump told reporters.
SpaceX previously worked with former President Joe Biden‘s administration to support Starlink access in Iran in 2022 amid protests against the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was hospitalized and later died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for a dress code infringement.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ‘STARTING TO’ CROSS US RED LINES AS PROTESTERS DIE IN GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN
Iran’s current protests arose for economic reasons, with Iranians outraged at high prices and demanding an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
Since the unrest broke out, Iranian authorities have killed at least 646 protesters, with thousands more deaths expected to be confirmed. Reuters reported the death toll at 2,000, citing an unnamed Iranian official.
The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran in reaction to the crackdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that diplomacy remains Trump’s first option, but that the president “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary.”
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“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.
Iran protests spark regime survival question as exiled dissident says it feels like a ‘revolution’
As protests spread across Iran and the government responds with lethal force, amid increasing reports claiming thousands have been killed, a growing question is being debated by analysts and Iranians alike: Is the Islamic Republic facing its most serious threat since the 1979 revolution, or does it still retain enough coercive power to survive?
For Mehdi Ghadimi, an Iranian journalist who spent decades protesting the regime before being forced to leave the country, this moment feels fundamentally different from anything that came before.
“From 1999, when I was about 15, until 2024, when I was forced to leave Iran, I took part in every street protest against the Islamic Republic,” Ghadimi told Fox News Digital. “For roughly half of those years, I supported the reformist movement. But after 2010, we became certain that the Islamic Republic is not reformable, that changing its factions is a fiction.”
EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE APPEALS TO TRUMP AS IRAN PROTESTS MARK ‘DEFINING’ MOMENT
According to Ghadimi, that realization gradually spread across Iranian society, culminating in what he describes as a decisive shift in the current unrest.
“For the first time in the 47 years of struggle by the Iranian people against the Islamic Republic, the idea of returning to the period before January 1979 became the sole demand and the central point of unity among the people,” he said. “As a result, we witnessed the most widespread presence of people from all cities and villages of Iran in the streets, on a scale unprecedented in any previous protests.”
Ghadimi claimed the chants on the streets reflected that shift. Instead of demanding economic relief or changes to dress codes, protesters openly called for the fall of the Islamic Republic and the return of the Pahlavi dynasty.
“At that point, it no longer seemed that we were merely protesting,” he said. “We were, in fact, carrying out a revolution.”
IRAN’S KHAMENEI ISSUES DIRECT WARNING TO UNITED STATES IN RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE POSTS
Still, Ghadimi was clear about what he believes is preventing the regime’s collapse.
“The answer is very clear,” he said. “The government sets no limit for itself when it comes to killing its own people.”
He added that Tehran appears reassured by the lack of consequences for its actions. “It has also been reassured by the behavior of other countries that if it manages to survive, it will not be punished for these blatant crimes against humanity,” he said. “The doors of diplomacy will always remain open to them, even if their hands are stained with blood.”
Ghadimi described how the regime cut off internet access to disrupt coordination between protesters and opposition leadership abroad. He said that once connectivity was severed, the reach of video messages from the exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi dropped dramatically.
While Iranian voices describe a revolutionary moment, security and policy experts caution that structural realities still favor the regime.
Javed Ali, an associate professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, said the Islamic Republic is facing far more serious threats to its grip on power than in years past, driven by a convergence of military, regional, economic and diplomatic pressures.
IRAN REGIME SAID TO UNLEASH HEZBOLLAH AND IRAQI MILITIAS AS UPRISING SPREADS
“The IRGC is in a much weaker position following the 12-day war with Israel last summer,” Ali said, citing “leadership removals, ballistic missile and drone capabilities that were used or damaged, and an air and radar defense network that has been significantly degraded.”
Ali said Iran’s regional deterrence has also eroded sharply. “The so-called Axis of Resistance has been significantly weakened across the region,” he said, pointing to setbacks suffered by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Shiite militias allied with Tehran.
Internally, Ali said demographic pressure is intensifying the challenge. “Iran’s younger population is even more frustrated than before with deteriorating economic conditions, ongoing social and cultural restrictions and repeated violent crackdowns on dissent,” he said.
US HOSTAGES IN IRAN FACE HEIGHTENED RISK AS PROTESTS SPREAD, EXPERTS SAY NUMBER HELD MAY EXCEED ESTIMATES
Ali also pointed to shifting external dynamics that are limiting Tehran’s room to maneuver, including what he described as a stronger U.S.-Israel relationship tied to the Netanyahu-Trump alliance. He added that there are “possible joint operations already underway to support the protest movement inside Iran.”
Israeli security sources, speaking on background, said Israel has no such interest in intervening in a way that would allow Tehran to redirect domestic unrest outward.
“Everyone understands it is better to sit and wait quietly and not attract the fire toward Israel,” one source said. “The regime would like to make this about Israel and the Zionist enemy and start another war to repress internal protests.”
“It is not Israel against Iran,” the source added. “We recognize that the regime has an interest in provoking us, and we do not want to contribute to that.”
The source said a collapse of the Islamic Republic would have far-reaching consequences. “If the regime falls, it will affect the entire Middle East,” the official said. “It could open a new era.”
Ali said Iran is increasingly isolated diplomatically. “There is growing isolation from Gulf monarchies, the fall of Assad in Syria and only muted support from China and Russia,” he said.
Despite those pressures, Ali cautioned that Iran’s coercive institutions remain loyal.
“I think the IRGC, including Basiji paramilitary elements, along with the Ministry of Intelligence, are still loyal to the regime out of a mix of ideology, religion, and self-interest,” he said, citing “power, money and influence.”
Whether fear of collapse could drive insiders to defect remains unclear. “Whether there are insiders willing to flip because of a sense of imminent collapse of the clerical structure is hard to know,” Ali said.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ‘STARTING TO’ CROSS US RED LINES AS PROTESTERS DIE IN GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN
He placed the probability of an internal regime collapse at “25% or less,” calling it “possible, but far less probable.”
For now, Iran appears caught between two realities: a population increasingly unified around the rejection of the Islamic Republic and a security apparatus still willing to use overwhelming force to preserve it.
As Ali noted, pressure alone does not bring regimes down. The decisive moment comes only when those ordered to enforce repression decide it is no longer in their interest to do so.
Despite the scale of unrest, Ghadimi cautioned that the outcome remains uncertain.
“After these four hellish days, without even knowing the fate of our friends and loved ones who went into the streets, or whether they were alive or not, it is truly difficult for me to give you a clear assessment and say whether our revolution is now moving toward victory or not,” he said.
He recalled a message he heard repeatedly before leaving Iran, across cities and social classes.
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“The only thing I consistently heard was this: ‘We have nothing left to lose, and even at the cost of our lives, we will not retreat one step from our demand for the fall of the Islamic Republic,’” Ghadimi said. “They asked me to promise that now that I am outside Iran, I would be their voice.”
“That spirit is what still gives my heart hope for victory,” he added. “But my mind tells me that when mass killing carries no punishment, and when the government possesses enough bullets, guns and determination to suppress it, even if it means killing millions, then victory would require a miracle.”
Trump has three strike options that would aid the protesters and devastate Iran
No one is better than President Donald Trump at putting maximum pressure on Iran. As protests against the repressive, murderous regime continue, Trump is talking about military options as another means of adding to the dilemmas for Iran’s government. “Locked and loaded,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 2, as the protests by the Iranian people ramped up.
The U.S. military always has a list of target options when it comes to Iran. Operation Midnight Hammer took out just a specific set of nuclear enrichment and weapons design facilities in order to obliterate Iran’s ability to race to a bomb. But the B-2 strike of June 22, 2025, did not go after Iran’s underground sites hiding missiles, launchers and fuel production.
One act by Iran would bring on strikes for sure: Trump on Sunday said he would “hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before” if American forces are targeted. This is an important red line. Remember Iran struck out at U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, back on June 23, 2025 and previously hit U.S. forces at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Jan. 8, 2020.
Here are three potential options that may be considered by President Trump.
IRAN’S NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES CRUSHED, BUT REGIME’S DESIRE FOR THE BOMB MAY PERSIST
1. Missile production
Iran is still building ballistic missiles and importing solid rocket fuel precursors such as sodium perchlorate from China. The CIA’s map shows more than two dozen above- and below-ground sites across Iran linked to testing, development, production and storage of missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let it be known in late December that Iran was trying to rebuild its missile stocks and air defenses. He probably shared more details during his visit with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 30. Iran expended hundreds of missiles in strikes on Israel in 2024-25 and wants to get back the ability to target Israel with big salvos. That would be bad.
2. Space launch facilities
IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM SET BACK 2 YEARS AFTER US STRIKES: PENTAGON
Iran has over 30 satellites in orbit and Russia just launched three more for them in December. That’s the last thing we need; rogue Iranian satellites. Worse, Iran’s space launch rockets are easy to repurpose as attack missiles. Iran popped an undeclared ballistic missile out of their Iman Khomenei spaceport back in September. That’s in violation of U.N. sanctions, by the way. It wouldn’t surprise me if their new launch facility under construction at Chabahar is also on the watch list.
3. Drone factories
Iran’s infamous drones used to hit Ukraine are made by Shahed Aviation Industries, run in part by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Don’t forget that the IRGC is also a big business operation. The IRGC funds terrorism, so their drone business is a legitimate military target. Too bad the drone factory Iran set up in Russia won’t be on this list.
Any options briefed to the president will come with extensive evaluation of ways to prevent collateral damage or inadvertent civilian deaths. The aim, after all, is pressure on the regime.
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All this is easy work for Central Command. U.S. F-15E fighters led strikes on ISIS targets in Syria on Saturday, and additional Air Force F-35s, F-16s and B-2 and B-1 bombers could augment the packages alongside U.S. Navy destroyers and submarines with Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAMs).
What about world reaction? France, Germany and Great Britain are already on record condemning Iran’s dubious space launch activities. Missiles from Iran can reach Southern Europe. Hence, the activation in 2023 of the Aegis Ashore radar system in Poland and Romania designed to track missiles launched out of Iran.
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As a corollary to the White House Briefing, the president will be informed of the defensive posture of U.S. forces in the Middle East. Tipped by U.S. Space Forces, U.S. Navy destroyers used the Standard Missile SM-3 to kill several Iranian missiles in 2024 and will be ready to do so again.
No doubt most Americans would love to see the end of Ayatollah Khamenei’s tyranny. Until that day comes, Trump’s prudent course may be to make sure Iran’s military capabilities are broken into a million pieces.
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MORNING GLORY: Trump is on the cusp of greatness. Khamenei is on the edge of the abyss
The difference between the illusion of power and its reality is the difference between Ayatollah Khamenei and President Donald Trump. Trump is on the cusp of joining the very small number of American presidents who reorder the world. Khamenei is on the cusp of history’s abyss reserved for murderous fanatics. If Trump tips Khamenei over that edge, the president’s place in history will be secure. He will have returned freedom to the great Persian people.
The belief in the unlimited power of a totalitarian government to maintain itself and protect its rulers is a dangerous conceit, as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro have both discovered. It may be that Ayatollah Khamenei is in the process of discovering the same hard reality: No government, no matter how ruthless, can endure for centuries or even decades in the face of a resentful population.
Not even the rulers of Rome at the height of the Caesars or the Severan dynasty were guaranteed an endless run of power. The Soviet Union, which possessed both nuclear weapons and an omnipresent security service, survived only from 1922 to 1991.
IRAN FLIPS ‘KILL SWITCH’ TO HIDE ALLEGED CRIMES AS DEATH TOLL RISES AMID PROTESTS
The Assad family took power in 1971 when Hafez Al-Assad consolidated control in Syria and kept it until December 2024, when his son and other family members were obliged to flee to Russia.
“Papa Doc” Duvalier took power in Haiti in 1957 and held it to his death in 1971. He was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed “Baby Doc,” who was forced to flee in February 1986.
Hugo Chavez first tried to gain power via a coup in Venezuela in 1992, failed, and then won power in 1999, which he never relinquished until his death, when Nicholas Maduro took over the police state until this month, when the American military assisted American law enforcement on the orders of President Trump to remove Maduro to a New York Jail cell.
The American government endures because it rests upon the consent of the governed. Any political entity that doesn’t, enjoys, at best, an uneasy control punctuated by attempted uprisings of a people desiring freedom and prosperity.
We are watching in real time the third effort of the people of Iran to throw off the shackles of the “Islamic Republic of Iran,” imposed on them by the fanatic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, which has oppressed the Iranian people for decades years. Khomeini ousted the Shah of Iran in 1979 and now the Shah’s son may return as a constitutional monarch to replace Khomeini’s hand-picked successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This ayatollah is as ruthless as the first and hundreds are being mowed down by his thugs in a desperate attempt to hang on to control of their kleptocracy, but the people of Iran have seen their life savings wiped out, their drinking water polluted and their electricity subject to repeated outages. The country is on the ropes and, humbled by Israeli and American air and missile power last summer, the people have begun their third week of massive protests. If either the U.S. or the Jewish state provide the final push, the great people of Persia — older than Christianity by 500 years — will re-emerge and regain their place among the great civilizations on the planet.
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Even as the mullahs and their shock troops in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shudder and fire wildly into crowds of hundreds of thousands, so too does the dictatorship of Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel, successor to Fidel, and then Raul Castro look shaky. As with Venezuela, and Syria and the Soviets before them, the Cuban regime depends upon the illusion of permanence. But, their people cannot eat illusions or drink fantasies.
Three times before, the tyrants of Iran faced serious challenges to their power, but each time — in the late 1990s, during the 2009 Green Movement and in 2022 with the Iranian women’s movement which is widely known as the “Woman, Life, Freedom,” — the power of the ayatollahs was challenged, but those challenges were not supported with even encouraging words by the American presidents of that era. Ayatollah Khomeini took power when Jimmy Carter was in office, and Khamenei kept power during the aborted revolutions that happened under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
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In this present convulsion of Iran, President Donald Trump has been a vocal supporter of the Iranian people seeking freedom. Just as he did with Maduro, President Trump has issued many warnings to Khamenei. Just as Maduro ignored them, so too has Khamenei responded with mockery of the president of the United States. The ayatollah has also cut off his nation’s internet and cellular services and ordered his thugs to open fire.
Will it work again? Nobody knows. All we know is that a repressed people cannot forever be held down. And that the presidents who help free them earn history’s applause and respect.
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LIZ PEEK: Trump is putting America first by backing Iran into a corner
As Iran teeters on the brink of revolution, the possible dethroning of the globe’s most malignant sponsor of terror would be another massive shake-up in the world order – one that would benefit the United States and her allies and for which President Donald Trump can take much credit.
If Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is forced to flee Tehran, and a new government ultimately takes his place, the people of Iran will thank Trump. Already they are renaming streets in his honor, and rightly so; his persistent pressure on the theocratic regime over many years has weakened them and their proxies.
Trump has threatened to retaliate if the mullahs shoot protesters and over the weekend said the United States “stands ready to help;” without a doubt they take his threats seriously. By successfully bombing their nuclear facilities in August, he showed yet again that he is unafraid of using American power. He also demonstrated the extraordinary capability of the U.S. military, a lethal competence also recently displayed in extracting Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Last June, during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, Trump said, “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.” He added, “He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out [kill], at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
TRUMP SAYS US WILL INTERVENE IF IRAN STARTS KILLING PROTESTERS: ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’
From the sound of it, the president’s patience is wearing thin again. Though the authorities have shut down most communications and the internet, word has leaked out that some 500 protesters have been killed and more than 10,000 imprisoned. Some claim the numbers are even higher.
It was not the first time Trump has battled the theocracy. In 2020, he ordered the assassination by drone of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the powerful Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Soleimani was responsible, as The New York Times reported at the time, for “nearly every significant operation by Iranian intelligence and military forces over the past two decades, and his death was a staggering blow for Iran at a time of sweeping geopolitical conflict.”
Soleimani, who devised lethal IED warfare against U.S. GIs in the Middle East and elsewhere, had the blood of countless Americans on his hands. Khamenei vowed vengeance and the region prepared for retaliation, but little came. The mullahs feared confronting Trump.
TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES WERE MASTERFUL. NOW, HIS DEALMAKING SKILLS ARE CRITICAL TO STOP ANOTHER MIDDLE EAST WAR
Trump has also steadfastly supported Israel, in particular, backing their aggressive confrontation with Iran’s proxy Hamas in retaliation for the terror group’s brutal Oct. 7 attacks. While his predecessor, President Joe Biden, pledged “unwavering” support for Israel, waver he did under withering attacks from pro-Palestinian Democrats.
During his 2024 State of the Union Address, Biden denounced Israel’s pursuit of Hamas in Gaza. He also levied sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and weighed sanctioning IDF units for suspected human rights violations. In addition, he refused to give Israel the 2,000-pound bombs they wanted to destroy tunnels and facilities used by Hamas. Finally, during his last year in office, Biden explicitly stated he would not support an IDF strike on Iranian nuclear sites even as Tehran carried out a missile attack on Israel, ceding U.S. authority to a coordinated G7 response instead.
In June 2025, Israel launched what Trump called the 12-day war, bombing Iranian military and nuclear sites. Trump supported the engagement; partnering with Jordan, the U.S. helped defend Israel from Iranian retaliation.
MIKE POMPEO: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IS ON THE ROPES. TIME FOR TRUMP, IRANIANS TO FINISH THE JOB
Hamas was not the only Iranian proxy hammered by Trump. Early in his second term, Trump ordered stepped-up airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, in response to their attacks on commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea. Incredibly, Biden had removed the “terrorist” designation that Trump had given the Houthis; Trump put it back.
Hezbollah, too, has come under attack from Trump, which may intensify in coming days. The Lebanese terror group is reportedly on the ground in Iran helping to suppress protests, which puts them in the crosshairs.
After meeting with Trump at the White House in December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told officials in his government that the U.S. president gave him a “green light” to launch an attack in Lebanon, according to Israeli reporting. Trump evidently agreed that dismantling the terror group was important, but reportedly asked Netanyahu to wait until U.S. negotiations with Lebanon were concluded.
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In coming days, the fate of the Iranian government will become clear. If the mullahs decamp and a pro-western administration emerges, the entire world, and especially Western nations, Israel and the Gulf Arab states, will be better off. From his first years in office, President Trump helped facilitate this chain of events, initially by leveling severe sanctions on Tehran’s oil industry that caused its exports and revenues to shrink.
During Trump’s first term, Iran’s foreign currency reserves plummeted from a high of $122 billion to $18 billion; Joe Biden took his foot off the brake, allowing Tehran to rebuild its oil exports (from less than half a million barrels per day to more than 1.5 million b/d) and its reserves. Biden also approved the transfer of $6 billion to Tehran, in exchange for a prisoner swap, giving the mullahs even more money to fund their terror allies.
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Joe Biden’s coddling of Iran was one of the worst foreign policy disasters of the past four years, confirming former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ pronouncement that Biden had been wrong on every foreign policy and national security issue of the past 40 years.
Thankfully, Trump is clear-eyed about America’s interests in the Middle East. In 2023, Biden famously said, in a rare Oval Office address, “American leadership is what holds the world together.” Yes, it does, and under President Trump we have seen an extraordinary wielding of U.S. power in defense of our allies, while always, without exception, putting America first.
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Iranians able to make some international calls as internet remains blocked amid protests
Iranians were able to place some international phone calls Tuesday for the first time since authorities imposed a sweeping communications shutdown amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests.
Residents in Tehran said calls to numbers outside the country briefly connected, though text messaging remained disabled and internet access was still restricted to government-approved domestic websites, leaving Iran largely cut off from the outside world.
The partial restoration came as security forces maintained a heavy presence across central Tehran, according to residents, with riot police, Revolutionary Guard units and plainclothes officers deployed at key locations as authorities sought to contain unrest.
IRAN’S KHAMENEI ISSUES DIRECT WARNING TO UNITED STATES IN RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE POSTS
Protests erupted in recent weeks over Iran’s deepening economic crisis, with demonstrators increasingly calling for regime change. Activist groups say hundreds of people have been killed, though the true toll remains difficult to verify due to the internet blackout and tight state controls on information.
Some government offices and financial institutions were damaged during the unrest, residents said, while merchants reported being ordered to reopen businesses despite ongoing security operations. Foot traffic remained sparse in many areas of the capital.
The unrest has drawn heightened international attention as tensions grow between Tehran and Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran wants to negotiate with his administration following his threat to bomb the country over its response to the protests.
Iran “better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting, too,” Trump said on Friday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera in an interview aired Monday night that he continued to communicate with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
The communications “continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing,” Araghchi said, adding that “Washington’s proposed ideas and threats against our country are incompatible.”
Araghchi also said that Tehran is “fully prepared for war” in the event that the U.S. attacks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that diplomacy remains Trump’s first option but that the president “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”
“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately, that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.
IRAN SET TO HANG PROTESTER IN WHAT WOULD MARK FIRST EXECUTION TIED TO ANTI-REGIME DEMONSTRATIONS
Tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators also took to the streets on Monday after days of protests challenging the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” as well as “Death to the enemies of God!”
Iran’s attorney general has warned that anyone participating in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a crime punishable by death.
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Trump announced on Monday that countries engaging in business with Iran will face 25% tariffs that would be “effective immediately” in response to Tehran’s crackdown on protests.
Iran set to hang protester in what would mark first execution tied to anti-regime demonstrations
Iran is reportedly set to execute its first protester in connection with mass arrests over the widespread anti-regime demonstrations, according to human rights groups.
Erfan Soltani, 26, is scheduled to be hanged to death on Wednesday after he was arrested last week during the protests in Karaj, the NGO groups Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFD) said.
“His family was told that he had been sentenced to death and that the sentence is due to be carried out on 14 January,” sources told IHRNGO.
IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement that “the widespread killing of civilian protesters in recent days by the Islamic Republic is reminiscent of the regime’s crimes in the 1980s, which have been recognized as crimes against humanity.”
RAND PAUL SAYS TRUMP’S THREAT TO BOMB IRAN ‘IS NOT THE ANSWER’: NOT THE ‘JOB OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT’
“The risk of mass and extrajudicial executions of protesters is extremely serious,” the statement added. “Under the Responsibility to Protect, the international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killings by the Islamic Republic and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We call on people and civil society in democratic countries to remind their governments of this responsibility.”
The NUFD is calling for international support to halt Soltani’s execution, stressing that his “only crime was calling for freedom” for Iran.
“Be his voice,” the group wrote on X.
Soltani was allegedly denied access to a lawyer, according to the NUFD.
According to The US Sun, Soltani was charged with “waging war against God,” a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Soltani’s alleged execution has yet to be independently verified amid a communications blackout as the country’s leaders seek to quell the dissent.
More than 10,000 people have reportedly been arrested in recent weeks for participating in the anti-government protests sparked by Iran’s failing economy, according to human rights groups, and many have begun to demand total regime change as the demonstrations continue.
Tehran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has also led to more than 500 deaths, human rights groups said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Tehran that violence against the protesters would be met with a U.S. military response, saying on Friday that they “better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting, too.”
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that diplomacy remains Trump’s first option, but that the president “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary.”
“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.
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But many congressional lawmakers, including some within the Republican Party, have criticized the president’s threats to bomb Iran, with several arguing that he needs approval from Congress under the Constitution, that the U.S. should not be involved in another foreign affair and that military action could rally Iranian protesters behind the Ayatollah.
“We wish them the best,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday. “We wish freedom and liberation the best across the world, but I don’t think it’s the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world … If you bomb the government, do you then rally people to their flag who are upset with the Ayatollah, but then say, ‘Well, gosh, we can’t have a foreign government invading or bombing our country?’ It tends to have people rally to the cause.”
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“Plus, there is this sticking point of the Constitution that we won’t let presidents bomb countries just when they feel like it,” he added. “They’re supposed to ask the people, through the Congress, for permission.”
Iranian officials have threatened to retaliate against U.S. troops in the region if the Pentagon were to strike, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying that Tehran is “fully prepared for war.”