Iranian Authorities Are 'Afraid Of Their Own People,' US Ambassador To The UN Says
The United States stands by protesters in Iran, and President Donald Trump "has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter," US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said.
"President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter," Waltz said at the Security Council meeting, which was held at Washington's request on January 15.
Responding to allegations by Iranian authorities that the nationwide protests were a plot by foreign states, Waltz said the hard-line regime in Tehran is "putting forward these lies because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets."
"Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before... They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people," he added.
European Union Is 'Looking To Deepen' Sanctions Against Iran
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union is considering strengthening sanctions against Iran, including targeting authorities who "are responsible for the atrocities" committed during a brutal crackdown on protesters.
"The sanctions are biting... They are weakening the regime and the sanctions help to push forward that this regime comes to an end and that there is change," von der Leyen said at a press conference in Cyprus on January 15.
"The people of Iran, who are bravely fighting for change, they have our full support," she added.
Iranians Mourn A 16-Year-Old Victim Of Violent Crackdown
A newly released video shows a huge crowd attending the funeral in Abdanan of Alireza Seydi, a teenager who was killed during anti-government protests in Tehran. Seydi is one of thousands of victims of Iranian authorities' crackdown on the protest movement. Fresh details of the protests and the casualties have been severely restricted by an ongoing Internet blackout throughout the country.
Behnam Ben Taleblu: Iran's Mass Protests Are A 'Social Revolution' Against Clerical Rulers
Iran has witnessed the biggest protests against the country’s clerical rulers since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
In response, the authorities have waged their deadliest-ever crackdown on street protests, killing thousands of people, according to human rights groups.
The widespread killing of protesters has led to the United States threatening possible military action against the Islamic republic.
RFE/RL’s Kian Sharifi interviewed Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, about whether Iran’s clerical rulers will survive this latest round of protests and Washington’s possible response to the unrest.
RFE/RL: You’ve said these protests are different. What makes them stand out?
Behnam Ben Taleblu: It’s the latest incarnation of anti-regime protests that are trying to push past the paradigm of the Islamic republic in its entirety, but very acutely different: The nationalism in them has grown significantly, with crowds calling for exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi by name; these are the first multiday, multicity nationwide uprisings months after the [Israel-Iran] 12-day war, when external observers predicted [that Iranians would] rally around the flag. Instead, you see regime flags taken down and even burned, alongside other symbols.
Protester resiliency persists despite violent crackdowns after the [2022] Woman, Life, Freedom movement and the inability of the diaspora to organize. Many thought this combination would have a chilling effect on the will of Iranian protesters to risk coming out onto the streets again for years to come.
I think the level of discontent coupled with the failures of the government on the economic front and on the environment front across 2025 plus the military defeat in the 12-day war really was a cocktail of forces that made the current round of protests qualitatively different. And I think we can analytically say [this is] the most potent challenge from the street against the state in the past four decades [since] the Islamic Revolution.
RFE/RL: This round of protests has seen the deadliest crackdown yet on street protesters. Do you see the Islamic republic surviving this, or is this it?
Taleblu: No doubt there's been boom-and-bust cycles of protests in years past, but it's still too soon to tell. The situation on the ground is very fluid, and much rides on the nature, if any, of external intervention and how it's read as dampening or driving future rounds.
But make no mistake. The social revolution has already happened against the Islamic republic. All that Iranians are waiting for is commensurate political change in Tehran. When and how [that happens] remains unclear. What is clear is the bravery of the Iranian people and their willingness to bear high levels of violence from this state, including at rates never before seen in four-plus decades of protests against this regime.
Read the rest of the interview here.
800 Executions 'Halted' Yesterday, Says Trump Spokeswoman
Up to 800 executions scheduled by Iranian authorities on January 14 were halted, a White House spokeswoman said, as she declined to rule out US intervention.
Karoline Leavitt told reporters on January 15 that Donald Trump “understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted”, adding that the Trump administration was “closely monitoring the situation”.
She said the US president had warned the Iranian regime there would be "grave consequences" if the killing of protesters continued.
“All options remain open,” she added.
Reuters: 4 Arab States Worked To Avoid US-Iran Escalation
Reuters is reporting that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt engaged in intense, behind-the-scenes diplomacy with Washington and Tehran this week to avert a threatened US military strike on Iran over its use of force against protesters, which Gulf officials feared could destabilize the wider region.
The efforts took place over roughly 48 hours before US President Donald Trump Trump appeared to signal on January 14 that he was holding off on military strikes for now, saying he had been told the killings in Iran’s protest crackdown were easing, but he did not rule out future action.
According to a Gulf official speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the four Arab states warned Washington that any strike on Iran would carry serious security and economic repercussions across the region, ultimately affecting US interests as well.
They also cautioned Tehran that retaliation against US facilities in the Gulf would damage Iran’s relations with neighboring countries, the official said.
Iranians Around The World Protest Mass Killings In Iran
Protests have been held in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and in other cities around the world to denounce the mass killing of protesters in Iran. Exiled Iranians and supporters have demonstrated outside their country's' embassies following a brutal crackdown on anti-government rallies. (RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Tea Topuria, Will Tizard)
Beheadings And Industrial Drugs: The Bizarre Reasons Iranian Officials Are Giving For The Deaths Of Protesters
Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has claimed that the protesters were given "industrial drugs" and that some of those killed "had consumed so many drugs that they died without any complications."
Nasirzadeh also said that most of the victims "were killed by stabbing and strangulation" and that "nearly 60 percent of them were killed by blows close to the head."
The claims echo the statements -- many of them bizarre -- that other Iranian officials have given to explain how so many protesters died. For example, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have claimed, without providing any evidence, that Islamic State methods such as "beheading" were being used during the protests -- although it is unclear by whom. Other officials attributed the violence and killings of protesters to "terrorists."
These claims contradict the abundance of footage that shows security officers shooting protesters, plus postmortem images showing gunshot wounds to victims' bodies.
In comments carried by state media, the defense minister also attributed the violence to US and Israeli agents, adding: "We are monitoring the enemy's supply lines for equipment and are ready to confront them. We will not allow this threat to reemerge in a new form."
They've 'Killed A Mountain Of People': Iranians Leaving Country Describe Scale Of Crackdown
Iranians leaving their country spoke to RFE/RL about the scale of the deadly crackdown on protests. The death toll is at more than 2,600 demonstrators, according to the US-based human rights monitor HRANA. But many groups fear the number is far higher. The interviewees, who remain anonymous for safety reasons, have recently traveled outside Iran, where a digital blackout continues to block access to the Internet. (RFE/RL's Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Armenian Service, RFE/RL's Tajik Service)
It's now been a week since the Internet blackout began in Iran, according to the NetBlocks digital rights monitor.