Trump-Iran newest: President threatens ‘very strong action’ if protesters are hanged after pressured confessions

Russia’s foreign ministry called on Tuesday the threats “categorically unacceptable”.

The ministry warned in a statement that any such strikes would have “disastrous consequences” for the situation in the Middle East and global security. It also criticised what it called “brazen attempts to blackmail Iran’s foreign partners by raising trade tariffs”.

The statement noted that the protests in Iran had been triggered by social and economic problems resulting from Western sanctions.

It also denounced “hostile external forces” for trying to “exploit the resulting growing social tension to destabilise and destroy the Iranian state” and charged that “specially trained and armed provocateurs acting on instructions from abroad” sought to provoke violence.

The ministry voiced hope that the situation in Iran will gradually stabilise and advised Russian citizens in the Islamic Republic not to visit crowded places.

Iranian state TV says officials will hold a funeral on Wednesday for the “martyrs and security defenders” who have died in the nationwide protests that have intensified in the last week.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, stated that the funeral will take place at Tehran University and will be the first among many state funerals held for security forces in the coming days.

The US-based rights group HRANA said on Wednesday it had verified the deaths of 2,571 people during Iran’s protests.

That figure incudes 2,403 protesters, 147 government-affiliated individuals, twelve people aged under 18 and nine non-protester civilians.

The group has been providing a running death toll throughout the protests, based on local activists on the ground confirming reported casualties.

Iranian and Qatari officials spoke on Tuesday about the deadly protests in Iran and America’s escalating threats to intervene.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, spoke by phone with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister.

In a statement on X, Al Thani said he “reaffirmed the State of Qatar’s backing of all de-escalation efforts, as well as peaceful solutions to enhance security and stability in the region”.

Qatar got caught in the crossfire during Israel’s 12-day war in June when the Islamic Republic retaliated against US airstrikes on its nuclear facilities by targeting US forces at the Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink has begun operating a free service for people in Iran, activists said on Wednesday.

Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the Starlink kits into Iran, told the Associated Press that the free service had started. Other activists also confirmed in messages online that the service was free.

Starlink has been the only way for Iranians to communicate with the outside world since authorities shut down the internet on Thursday night as nationwide protests swelled and they began a bloody crackdown against demonstrators.

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Iran eased some restrictions on its people and, for the first time in days, allowed them to make phone calls abroad via their mobile phones on Tuesday.

It did not ease restrictions on the internet or permit texting services to be restored as the death toll from days of bloody protests against the state rose to over 2,000.

Although Iranians were able to call abroad, people outside the country could not call them, several people in the capital told The Associated Press.

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said SMS text messaging still was down and internet users inside Iran could not access anything abroad, although there were local connections to government-approved websites.

It was unclear if restrictions would ease further after authorities cut off all communications inside the country and to the outside world late Thursday.

The satellite internet service Starlink has been the only way for Iranians to share videos and photos of the demonstrations with the outside world via since authorities shut down the internet Thursday night.

In an effort to get around the restrictions, Starlink began offering free service in Iran, activists said Wednesday. Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Iran’s UN envoy has penned a letter to the UN Security Council opposing Donald Trump’s “interventionist rhetoric” towards the country and criticising the US president for explicitly encouraging “political destabilisation”.

Criticising Trump’s post calling on protesters to take over Iranian institutions, he said it “incites and invites violence, and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

“The statement explicitly made today by the President of the United States, calling for the ‘taking over of institutions,’ must be understood in the context of the failure of the 12-day war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2025, and as an integral component of a broader regime-change policy,” said Iran’s UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani.

“The United States and the Israeli regime bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep up their protests, adding: “Help is on the way.”

President Donald Trump was consulting with his national security team on Tuesday about possible next steps to take on Iran, as he looked to get a better understanding of the number of Iranian citizens who have been killed and arrested in more than two weeks of unrest throughout the country.

Trump said he believes that the killing is “significant” and that his administration would “act accordingly.” He added that he believed the Iranian government was “badly misbehaving”.

But the president said he has yet to receive a confirmed number of Iranians killed in the protests that began late last month, saying he has heard “five different sets of numbers” about the death toll.

Since the protests began on 28 December, 16,700 people have been arrested and more than 2,500 have been killed, the vast majority protesters, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. The organisation is based in the US and relies on a network of activists inside Iran to confirm reported fatalities.

“The message is they’ve got to show humanity,” Trump said of the Iranian government. “They’ve got a big problem. And I hope they’re not going to be killing people.”

Activists have raised alarm over a surge in executions connected to the latest protests, as Iranian state media aired at least 97 confessions from protesters, many expressing remorse for their actions since the protest began on 28 December.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says that based on testimony from prior detainees, the confessions often come after psychological or physical torture – and can have serious consequences, including the death penalty.

“These rights violations compound on top of each other and lead to horrible outcomes. This is a pattern that’s been implemented by the regime time and time again,” said Skylar Thompson, the group’s deputy director.

Thompson said she is “gravely concerned” over a surge in executions connected to the latest protests, adding that many of the video confessions are serious security-related offences that carry the death penalty.

By comparison, from 2010 to 2020, there were around 350 forced confessions broadcast on state media, according to the activist groups Justice for Iran and the International Federation for Human Rights, the last major study compiled by activists.

The rights group Together Against the Death Penalty said there were 40 to 60 confessions aired in 2025.

In 2024, Iran executed 975 people, the highest number since 2015, according to a report by the United Nations. Four of the executions were carried out publicly. Iran carries out executions by hanging.

According to the UN report, most people in Iran are executed for drug-related offences or murder.

In 2024, security-related offences, such as espionage, accounted for just three per cent of the executions.

Tehran is known to have executed 12 people for espionage since the 12-day war in June between Israel and Iran.

The most recent execution for espionage was last week, when Iran said it executed a man who was accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad spy agency in exchange for cryptocurrency. The state-run IRNA news agency said the man confessed to the spying charges.

They are shown handcuffed, their faces blurred. The confession videos, broadcast on Iranian state media, feature dramatic background music interspersed with clips appearing to show protesters attacking security forces.

Some showcase gruesome homemade weapons that authorities claim were used in the attacks. Others highlight suspects in grainy security footage, appearing to set fires or destroy property.

Iran alleges these confessions, which often include references to Israel or America, are proof of foreign plots behind Iran’s nationwide protests.