At least 35 people have died in Iran as nationwide protests stretch into a ninth day, despite repeated warnings from President Donald Trump that the Iranian regime would face consequences for killing protesters.
According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the dead include 29 protesters, four children, and two members of Iran’s security forces.
Trump reiterated his threat to intervene against the Iranian regime for attacking protesters on Sunday night.
“If (Iran) starts killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re gonna get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
The protests have reportedly reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including a sit-in at Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar on Tuesday. Videos show regime security forces dispersing the crowd with tear gas at the market, which has been essential to Iranian economic and political life for centuries.
In the heart of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar today. pic.twitter.com/AHYatDU4Vv
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) January 6, 2026
An additional 1,200 people have reportedly been detained in connection with the protests. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has documented many of the arrests, including a significant number involving Iranian Kurds, a long-persecuted minority in Iran.
According to Iranian state media, about 250 police officers and 45 members of the Basij force have been injured in the demonstrations.
Despite the ongoing protests and the Iranian rial hitting a record low on Tuesday, daily life in Tehran has continued largely as normal, with most shops open, though armed riot police have been stationed across the city, reported AFP.
Iran launched missile and air defense exercises over the weekend, with air defense fire heard in cities, including Tehran and Shiraz, Iran International English reported. Such tests conflict with Trump’s warning issued last week during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when the president said he would back more Israeli military strikes on Iran if Tehran continues to develop ballistic missiles.
“The missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast,” Trump said. “One would be yes, absolutely, the other was, we’ll do it immediately.”
The State Department’s Farsi-language X account posted a series of ominous messages late Sunday targeting the Iranian regime, including a post with an image of Trump alongside Secretary of State Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, accompanied by the Farsi-language warning: “Don’t play with President Trump.”
The account also condemned the regime for a “brutal attack” on a hospital in Ilam, where activists said demonstrators were seeking treatment.
“The raid on wards, the beating of medical staff, and the assault on the injured with tear gas and live ammunition is a blatant crime against humanity,” the post stated. “Hospitals are not battlefields. These actions by the Islamic Republic regime constitute a flagrant violation of international laws and demonstrate a regime that treats human lives with complete disregard.”
حمله وحشیانه رژیم جمهوری اسلامی به بیمارستانی در ایلام یک جنایت است. یورش به بخشها، ضرب و شتم کادر پزشکی و حمله به مجروحان با گاز اشکآور و گلوله جنگی، جنایتی آشکار علیه بشریت است. بیمارستانها میدان نبرد نیستند. این اقدامات رژیم جمهوری اسلامی نقض فاحش قوانین بینالمللی است و… pic.twitter.com/GXgQfwIMf4
— USAbehFarsi (@USABehFarsi) January 5, 2026
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought to distinguish the economic grievances that sparked the initial protests from the broader anti-regime demonstrations sweeping the country.
Pezeshkian acknowledged last week that merchants who first took to the streets over soaring prices and economic hardship had “legitimate demands,” as the Iranian rial lost more than 56 percent of its value over six months, which has driven food prices up 72 percent compared to last year.
The Iranian regime will provide a monthly stipend of about $7 to each person for use at select grocery stores in an attempt to alleviate the economic hardship, reported the Times of Israel.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took a hard line approach, declaring that “rioters must be put in their place” and that there is “no point in talking with a rioter,” signaling the regime’s continued readiness to use violence to crush dissent.
.png)
.png)
