Protesters have been shot dead in Iran as demonstrations continue in at least 40 cities across the country.
Intensifying clashes began last Sunday when shopkeepers staged a strike over economic concerns.
At least 12 people have since been killed, including members of the security forces, according to a toll based on official reports.
Sporadic unrest broke out in Tehran, which has a population of around 10million, on Saturday evening, according to local media.
The protests were described as ‘limited’ by the Fars news agency and ‘generally made up of groups of 50 to 200 young people’.
Demonstrations were reported in the districts of Novobat and Tehran Pars in the capital’s east; Ekteban, Sadeghieh and Sattarkhan in the west; and Naziabad and Abdolabad in the south.
Demonstrators reportedly shouted slogans including ‘death to the dictator’, though no major incidents were reported beyond some stone throwing and rubbish bins being set alright.
Fars said the situation in Tehran ‘contrasted with an intensification of violence and organised attacks in other regions, notably the country’s west’.
The Middle Eastern nation has seen a sharp rise in arrests following days of unrest sparked by soaring inflation. This image shows protestors attacking a government building in Fasa, southern Iran on December 31
Pictured: Shopkeepers and traders protest in the street against the economic conditions and Iran’s embattled currency in Tehran on December 29, 2025
In Malekshahi, a county of about 20,000 residents including a large Kurdish population, a member of the security forces was killed in clashes, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
‘Rioters attempted to storm a police station,’ Fars said, adding that ‘two assailants were killed’.
Local media’s accounting of the protests is not exhaustive, and state-run outlets have been accused of downplaying their coverage of the demonstrations.
Videos circulating on social media have proved impossible to verify.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that if Tehran ‘violently kills peaceful protesters’, the United States ‘will come to their rescue’.
‘We are locked and loaded and ready to go,’ he said.
The President’s comments sparked a response from officials within the theocracy who threatened to target American troops in the Mideast.
The threat has new significance since the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that if Tehran ‘violently kills peaceful protesters’, the United States ‘will come to their rescue’
Yesterday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened to put ‘rioters in their place’
The weeklong protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022 when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations.
Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has attempted to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters.
However, Iran’s rial has continued to rapidly depreciate, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials.
Yesterday, Iran’s Supreme Leader threatened to put ‘rioters in their place’.
Speaking in a recorded appearance, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Islamic Republic ‘we will speak with the protesters but talking to rioters is useless’.
‘Rioters should be put in their place,’ he added.