Iranians took to the streets in new protests against the clerical authorities overnight despite an internet shutdown, as rights groups warned on Sunday that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have now become a movement against the theocratic government that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution and have already lasted two weeks.The mass rallies are one of the biggest challenges to the rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June, which was backed by the United States.Videos posted to social media showed large crowds taking to the streets in new protests in several Iranian cities including the capital Tehran and Mashhad in the east, where images showed vehicles set on fire. The videos filtered out despite a total shutdown of the internet in Iran that has rendered impossible normal communication with the outside world via messaging apps or even phone lines.The internet blackout “is now past the 60 hour mark… The censorship measure presents a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of Iranians at a key moment for the country’s future”, monitor Netblocks said early Sunday.Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by AFP, allegedly showed relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 116 people in connection with the protests, including 37 members of the security forces or other officials.But activists warned that the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher.The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown”. “A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life,” it said. It said hospitals were “overwhelmed”, blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic. – ‘Significant arrests’ -In comments to state TV late Saturday, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni insisted that acts of “vandalism” were decreasing and warned that “those who lead the protest towards destruction, chaos and terrorist acts do not let the people’s voices be heard”. National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said authorities made “significant” arrests of protest figures on Saturday night, without giving details on the number or identities of those arrested, according to state TV. Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani drew a line between protests over economic hardship, which he called “completely understandable”, and “riots”, accusing them of actions “very similar to the methods of terrorist groups”, Tasnim news agency reported.In Tehran, an AFP journalist described a city in a state of near paralysis. The price of meat has nearly doubled since the start of the protests, and while some shops are open, many others are not.Those that do open must close at around 4:00 or 5:00 pm, when security forces deploy in force.On Saturday, mobile phone lines appeared to have gone down as well, rendering nearly all communication impossible.Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests, called for new actions later Sunday.”Do not abandon the streets. My heart is with you. I know that I will soon be by your side,” he said. US President Donald Trump has spoken out in support of the protests and threatened military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people”.On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would hit back if the US launched military action. “In the event of a military attack by the United States, both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets,” he said in comments broadcast by state TV. He was apparently also referring to Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise and considers occupied Palestinian territory.

At a hospital in Gaza, wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March.Last month, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations, including MSF, from operating in Gaza from March 1 for failing to provide detailed information on their Palestinian staff.”They stood by us throughout the war,” said 10-year-old Adam Asfour, his left arm pinned with metal rods after he was wounded by shrapnel in a bombing in September.”When I heard it was possible they would stop providing services, it made me very sad,” he added from his bed at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital.Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, which oversees NGO registrations, has accused two MSF employees of links to Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, allegations MSF vehemently denies.The ministry’s decision triggered international condemnation, with aid groups warning it would severely disrupt food and medical supplies to Gaza, where relief items are already scarce after more than two years of war.Inside the packed Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the territory, MSF staff were still tending to children with burns, shrapnel wounds and chronic illnesses, an AFP journalist reported.But their presence may end soon.The prospect was unthinkable for Fayrouz Barhoum, whose grandson is being treated at the facility.”Say bye to the lady, blow her a kiss,” she told her 18-month-old grandson, Joud, as MSF official Claire Nicolet left the room.Joud’s head was wrapped in bandages covering burns on his cheek after boiling water spilled on him when strong winds battered the family’s makeshift shelter.”At first his condition was very serious, but then it improved considerably,” Barhoum said.”The scarring on his face has largely diminished. We need continuity of care,” she said.- ‘We will continue working’ -AFP spoke with patients and relatives at Nasser Hospital, all of whom expressed the same fear: that without MSF, there would be nowhere left to turn.MSF says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in Gaza and operates around 20 health centres.In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations and over 10,000 deliveries.”It’s almost impossible to find an organisation that will come here and be able to replace all what we are doing currently in Gaza,” Nicolet told AFP, noting that MSF not only provides medical care but also distributes drinking water to a population worn down by a prolonged war.”So this is not really realistic.”Since the start of the war in October 2023, triggered by Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel, Israeli officials and the military have repeatedly accused Hamas of using Gaza’s medical facilities as command centres.Many have been damaged by two years of bombardments or overcrowded by casualties, while electricity, water and fuel supplies remain unreliable.Aid groups warn that without international support, critical services such as emergency care, maternal health, and paediatric treatment could collapse entirely, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without basic medical care.Humanitarian sources say at least three international NGO employees whose files were rejected by Israeli authorities have already been prevented from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.”For now, we will continue working as long as we can,” said Kelsie Meaden, an MSF logistics manager at Nasser Hospital, adding that constraints were already mounting.”We can’t have any more international staff enter into Gaza, as well as supplies… we will run into shortages.”