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Iranian authorities have committed a “mass killing” in cracking down on the biggest protests against the Islamic republic in years, a rights group said Sunday, as the president warned “rioters” must not be allowed to destabilise the country.The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters but warned the actual death toll could already amount to several hundreds, or even more.The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have evolved into a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution, and have already lasted two weeks.They have become 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.Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks, with activists warning that the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and that the actual toll risks being far higher. “Unverified reports indicate that at least several hundreds, and according to some sources, more than 2,000 people may have been killed,” said IHR, denouncing a “mass killing” and a “major international crime against the people of Iran”. Iranian authorities have sought to distinguish between what they deem legitimate protests over Iran’s dire economy and “rioters” they allege are backed by the United States and Israel. President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the arch-foes of Iran of “trying to escalate this unrest” and bringing “terrorists from abroad into the country”, in an interview broadcast Sunday. “The people (of Iran) should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we (the government) want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB. State TV has aired images of burning buildings, including a mosque, as well as funeral processions for security personnel, with authorities saying members of security forces have been killed. The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, repeated warnings that authorities would deal “decisively” with arrested protesters, and national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan reported “significant” arrests made on Saturday night.  More than 2,600 protesters have been arrested since the beginning of the demonstrations, according to estimates by IHR. – Paralysis in Tehran -Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests, has urged renewed demonstrations on Sunday night. Since the protests began, some participants have been heard chanting “long live the shah”.Pahlavi said he was prepared to return to the country and lead a transition to a democratic government. “I’m already planning on that,” he told Fox News on Sunday. Videos of large demonstrations in the capital Tehran and other cities over the past three nights have filtered out despite the internet cut, which has rendered impossible normal communication with the outside world via messaging apps or even phone lines. Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by AFP, purported to show relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown.The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said hospitals were “overwhelmed”, blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic. 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 are not.Those that do open must close at around 4:00 or 5:00 pm, when security forces deploy in force. – ‘Alive or not’ -Solidarity protests were held in multiple countries, including France, Britain and Austria, with several thousand people gathering in London alone. “We don’t know anything about our family members now, in Iran,” Fahimeh Moradi told AFP in the UK. “My son is there, and I don’t know if he’s alive or not,” the 52-year-old said, echoing other Iranians outside the country worried about relatives they have not been able to reach during the internet shutdown. US President Donald Trump has voiced support for the protests and threatened military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Sunday that he hoped Iran would soon be freed from what he described as the “yoke of tyranny”. 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.

Demonstrators rallied in London, Paris and Istanbul on Sunday in support of protests in Iran that have been countered with a deadly crackdown by the country’s security forces.London demonstrations, initially in front of the Iranian embassy and later in front of the British prime minister’s residence, grew to several thousand as the day progressed.”We want revolution, change the regime,” Afsi, a 38-year-old Iranian, who declined to give her last name, told AFP at the rally in front of Downing Street.Afsi has lived in London for seven years, and has not been able to contact her family in Iran because of an internet blackout imposed by authorities since Thursday.”
It’s so frustrating, but it’s not the first time,” he said. “This time, we have hope … we feel like we can do it (overthrow the government) this time.” In Paris, more than 2,000 people waving Iran’s flag from before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 demonstrated, to chants of “No to the terrorist Islamic Republic”.Police did not allow them to approach the Iranian embassy.”Close the mullahs’ embassy, the terrorist factory,” some demonstrators yelled.A 20-year-old Iranian student living in Paris, who gave his first name as Arya, said: “In Iran, the people are rising up in the streets, and we Iranians outside Iran are here to show we are with them and they are not alone.”He said he was waiting to hear what the son of Iran’s last shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, “will tell us to do”.Pahlavi has emerged as a potential figurehead for government opponents.The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have lasted two weeks and become a movement against the theocratic system in place since the 1979 revolution. Iranian authorities have called the protesters “rioters” who are backed by the United States and Israel.In Istanbul, demonstrators voicing support for the Iranian protesters gathered in steady rain.Police cordoned off the area outside the Iranian consulate and the crowd was kept away from the mission.”It’s been 72 hours since we had any news from the country, from our families. No internet or television, we can’t reach Iran anymore,” said Nina, a young Iranian living in Turkey who had the Iranian flag and red tears painted on her face.”The regime kills at random — whether families are on foot or in a car, whether there are children. It spares no one,” she added.The crackdown by Iran’s authorities has resulted in at least 192 deaths, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “credible” accounts of “hundreds of protesters” killed across Iran since the internet clampdown started. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Friday condemned the “killing of protestors” in Iran, while US President Donald Trump said Saturday his country stood “ready to help” as Iranians protest.One of the demonstrators in London, Fahimeh Moradi, 52 ans, said she was taking part “to support the Iranian people who are killed and murdered by the Iran regime — we don’t want the Islamic Republic of Iran, we hate them!”She added: “My son is there, and I don’t know if he’s alive or not. We just want this murderous regime to leave Iran, that’s it!”

Syria’s government was in full control of Aleppo on Sunday after taking over the city’s Kurdish neighbourhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish autonomous areas following days of deadly clashes.Residents of the Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, the first of two areas to fall to the Syrian army, began returning to their homes to inspect the damage, finding shrapnel and broken glass littering the streets.The violence started earlier this week after negotiations stalled on integrating the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and forces into the country’s new government.A Syrian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that 419 Kurdish fighters, including 59 wounded and an unspecified number of dead, were transferred from the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood — the second area to come under army control — to the Kurdish-controlled zone in the northeast.The arriving fighters were met with tears and vows of vengeance from hundreds of people who gathered to greet them in the northeastern Kurdish city of Qamishli, according to AFP correspondents at the scene.”We will avenge Sheikh Maqsud… we will avenge our fighters, we will avenge our martyrs,” Umm Dalil, 55, said.A correspondent saw crossed-out images of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and US envoy Tom Barrack, as people chanted against Sharaa.Kurdish leader Mazlum Abdi said on X that the combatants were evacuated “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”.The Syrian official said that 300 other Kurds, including fighters and members of the domestic security forces, had been arrested.Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that 300 “young Kurds” had been arrested, stating that they were “civilians, not fighters”.- Damaged walls, looted homes -On Sunday in Ashrafiyeh, an AFP correspondent saw people carrying bags and blankets return to their homes after being searched by security forces.Yahya al-Sufi, a 49-year-old clothing seller, told AFP he had fled during the violence.”When we returned, we found holes in the walls and our homes had been looted… Now that things have calmed down, we’re back to repair the walls and restore the water and electricity,” he said.Some had hoped calm would prevail between the government in Damascus and the Kurdish fighters.”We didn’t want things to get this bad. I wish the Kurdish leadership had responded to the Syrian state. We’ve had enough bloodshed,” said Mohammed Bitar, 39, who stayed in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood.”There’s no Arab, no Kurd, we’re all Syrians.”Sheikh Maqsud, however, remained off limits on Sunday, with residents barred from returning, an interior ministry source told AFP.An AFP correspondent in the area saw burnt armoured vehicles, cars loaded with ammunition and many landmines authorities took during their combing operation.Syrian authorities said on Sunday that the toll from the fighting had reached “24 dead and 129 wounded since last Tuesday”, while the Observatory reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters were killed from both sides.The Observatory reported “field executions” and the burning of fighters’ bodies in Sheikh Maqsud by government forces, along with other “violations”, but AFP was unable to independently verify the claims.- ‘Return to dialogue’ -US envoy Tom Barrack met Saturday with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and afterwards issued a call for a “return to dialogue” with the Kurds in accordance with an integration agreement sealed last year.Abdi in his statement called on “the mediators to abide by their promises to stop the violations”.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Abdi heads, control swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which they captured during Syria’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group. Neighbouring Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s new leaders, views the SDF’s main component as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which agreed last year to end its four-decade armed struggle against Ankara.Turkey has launched successive offensives to push Kurdish forces from the frontier.The March integration agreement between Damascus and the Kurds was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, stymied progress.The Aleppo fighting recalled a chapter in Syria’s civil war when fierce fighting pitted the city’s rebel-held east against the west, then controlled by the forces of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.Assad’s forces seized control of the entire city in December 2016, forcing the opposition and their families to evacuate to what was then the rebel stronghold of Idlib in the northwest.

Residents of a Kurdish neighbourhood in Syria’s second city of Aleppo passed through government checkpoints Sunday to find blackened walls, destroyed vehicles and debris-littered streets as they returned home after days of deadly clashes.While they picked up the pieces in the city’s Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, the city’s only other Kurdish-majority district Sheikh Maqsud still remained off limits after suffering the worst of the fighting.Many locals like wheelchair-bound Abdul Qader Satar returned to Ashrafiyeh on Sunday to inspect their homes after days of violence.”I left on the first day and took refuge in one of the mosques,” the 34-year-old told AFP while loading belongings onto his wheelchair.”We left quickly with only the clothes on our backs… and now we are back to check on the house.”Others said they remained in their homes despite the violence, hoping calm would prevail between the government in Damascus and the Kurdish fighters.”We didn’t want things to get this bad. I wish the Kurdish leadership had responded to the Syrian state. We’ve had enough bloodshed,” said Mohammed Bitar, 39, who stayed in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood.”There’s no Arab, no Kurd, we’re all Syrians.”But the deadly clashes that erupted in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods on Tuesday left dozens dead and displaced around 155,000 people, according to Syrian authorities. Syria’s government has since taken full control of the two areas as of Sunday, after agreeing the transfer of Kurdish fighters from the districts to Kurdish autonomous areas in the country’s northeast.- ‘Closed military zone’ -In the streets of Ashrafiyeh, crumbled walls had turned black from explosions while families and children carried blankets and bags home to inspect damage to their homes under a heavy security presence.”We were sitting safely in our homes… suddenly, heavy gunfire erupted. We left our homes under the bullets and fled,” clothing seller Yahya al-Sufi, 49, told AFP in Ashrafiyeh.”When we returned, we found holes in the walls and our homes had been looted… Now that things have calmed down, we’re back to repair the walls and restore the water and electricity,” he added, while supervising workers repairing the holes in his wall.While many left the neighbourhood, Ammar Abdel Qader chose to stay with his family. Standing in front of the pharmacy where he works, the 48-year-old said “there was fear of the bombing, and most people left, but my family and I stayed and took refuge in the inner rooms”.”Now normal life has returned to Ashrafiyeh, things are good, and people are returning to their homes.”The last area to fall to the Syria army, the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood near Ashrafiyeh, was still closed off to those who wanted to return.Kurdish fighters had entrenched themselves in a hospital in the area until Syrian authorities announced their transfer on Sunday.An interior ministry source told AFP the neighbourhood was still considered a “closed military zone” despite the departures.Ambulances later entered Sheikh Maqsud as authorities combed the area after the last Kurdish fighters had left.- ‘We will fight’ -Syrian authorities and the Observatory both said the violence in the districts killed dozens.In Qamishli city in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, the evacuated fighters were met with tears and pledges of vengeance from hundreds of people who gathered to greet them.Upon his arrival, one fighter vowed “revenge” after embracing his mother as they both wept.An AFP correspondent saw crossed-out images of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and US envoy Tom Barrack, as people chanted against the Syrian leader.”We will avenge Sheikh Maqsud… we will avenge our fighters, we will avenge our martyrs,” Umm Dalil, 55, said.”The Kurdish people will not fall, the Kurdish people will triumph, we will fight until the end and victory will be ours.”strs/mam-lk/nad/jfx

Turkey on Sunday prevented Iranian nationals from protesting outside Iran’s consulate in Istanbul, with the area cordoned off and crowds blocked by police.Iran has been roiled by street protests since December 28 that have taken hold nationwide, challenging the theocratic government that has ruled the country since the 1979 revolution.Turkey, a majority Sunni Muslim country, shares a border of around 500 kilometres (300 miles) and three land crossings with its Shiite neighbour Iran. It hosts more than 74,000 Iranians with residence permits and around 5,000 refugees.Demonstrators gathered under steady rain in Istanbul, where Nina, a young Iranian exile, said she wanted to show solidarity as the protests shaking the Islamic republic rumble into their third week.”It’s been 72 hours since we had any news from the country, from our families. No internet or television, we can’t reach Iran anymore,” she said, the Iranian flag and red tears painted across her face.”The regime kills at random — whether families are on foot or in a car, whether there are children. It spares no one,” she added.Initially ignited by anger over the rising cost of living, the protests in Iran have spiralled into a broader movement.Amir Hossein, a singer from Tehran exiled in Turkey for 20 years, said he hoped “the entire Iranian nation can hear me”.”In every country, permits are granted to demonstrate for freedom, for democracy, but in Turkey, unfortunately, never,” Hossein said.He called on the international community to intervene on the situation in Iran, adding: “Our regime is not normal; it kills.”At least 192 protesters have been killed in Iran’s biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.”But this time, victory is ours and we are going to win,” Hossein said.”We have a leader,” he stressed, referring to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests.Nearby, a young woman unfurled the former Iranian flag, flown before the Islamic revolution, and emblazoned with a lion and sun.But not all protesters were calling for Pahlavi’s return.”We want democracy, a republic, not a monarchy,” said Mehdi, an exiled engineer, stressing the shah’s son was “incapable of uniting people”.

At least 192 protesters have been killed in Iran’s  biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, a rights group said Sunday, as warnings grew 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 system in place in 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. Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks, with activists warning the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher. “Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters,” the Norway-based non-governmental organisation said, warning that the deaths “may be even more extensive than we currently imagine”.Videos of large demonstrations in the capital Tehran and other cities over the past three nights have filtered out despite the internet cut that has rendered impossible normal communication with the outside world via messaging apps or even phone lines. Video verified by AFP showed large crowds taking to the streets in new protests on Saturday night in several Iranian cities including Tehran and Mashhad in the east, where images showed vehicles set on fire. 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 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’ -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. State TV on Sunday broadcast images of funeral processions for security forces killed in recent days, as authorities condemned “riots” and “vandalism”. 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. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said “rioters” must not distrupt Iranian society.”The people (of Iran) should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we (the government) want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.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.- ‘Legitimate targets’ -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”. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged the European Union on Sunday to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps as a “terrorist organisation” over the suspected violence against protesters.He also said Israel supports the Iranian people’s “struggle for freedom”.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.

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.