A US aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East on January 27 as tensions mount over a possible strike against Iran after a brutal crackdown on protests that rights groups say killed thousands of people.
Amid the turmoil, the Iran currency, the rial, fell to a record low against the dollar, trading at 1.5 million on January 27.
US President Donald Trump has said he "hopes" military action against Tehran won't be needed, but he has also sent an "armada" to the region while refusing to take the option of air strikes off of the table in response to the crackdown on mainly peaceful protesters who took to the streets in recent weeks to demand action to stop spiraling inflation and a sagging currency.
The US-based rights organization HRANA, whose figures RFE/RL has been regularly citing since the violent crackdown began in Iran earlier this month, says its confirmed death toll, including security forces, is now 6,126, while the number of fatalities still under investigation is 17,091.
Some estimates by officials quoted off the record by various media outlets run several times higher.
US President Trump told Axios in an interview on January 26 that the situation with Iran is "in flux" because he sent a "big armada" to the region, with a strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln now in Middle Eastern waters, according to US Central Command.
But, Trump added, he thinks Tehran genuinely wants to cut a deal.
"They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk," he was quoted as saying.
The protests began on December 28 in markets in the capital, Tehran, among shopkeepers angry over dismal economic conditions. The unrest quickly spread across the country and turned into demonstrations against authorities for deteriorating living standards and the suppression of freedoms.
The rial's drop against the dollar comes with the annual inflation rate at 44.6 percent, including an almost 90 percent year-on-year rise in food prices. Iran's economy has struggled for years under the pressure of international sanctions and the effects of the 12-day war with Israel last June.
Eyewitness accounts and verified reports from rights groups appear to show the violent crackdown peaked on January 8 and January 9, when security forces opened fire with live ammunition on demonstrators.
Amid a weeks-long Internet blackout, information about the extent of the violent suppression of the protests continues to trickle out.
Watchdog NetBlocks said in a daily report on January 26 that the blackout continues, though there were reports of some limited access to the Internet.
NetBlocks said that such gaps "are being tightened to limit circumvention while whitelisted regime accounts promote the Islamic Republic's narrative."
A spokesman for the Iranian government said on January 27 that the Internet was cut off "to preserve human lives," though they didn't explain what they meant by the comments.
Nonetheless, new images of the suppression continue to pop up online as Iranians try to show how vicious the crackdown was.
The Vahid Online channel published new images showing government forces directly firing at protesters in the city of Amol on the evening of January 9, contradicting claims by authorities that killings were carried out by "terrorists" and not state security agents.
In the images, officers in uniform armed with Kalashnikov rifles are seen aiming into the streets and firing.
