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Iran Protest Death Toll Rises as Alarm Grows over Crackdown ‘Massacre’

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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”. (Read more from “Iran Protest Death Toll Rises as Alarm Grows over Crackdown ‘Massacre’” HERE)

Trump Steps Up Support for Iranian Protesters in Flurry of Posts — ‘USA Stands Ready to Help’

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“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” President Donald Trump wrote Saturday as he escalated his public backing of Iran’s protesters — and sharpened warnings to the regime in Tehran.

Trump posted repeatedly on Truth Social throughout the day, including a post this evening highlighting demonstrators in London who scaled Iran’s embassy, tore down the Islamic Republic’s flag, and hoisted the country’s pre-1979 symbol instead.

The scene unfolded at Iran’s embassy near Hyde Park, where a protester climbed onto a balcony and replaced the regime’s flag with Iran’s pre-Islamic Revolution lion-and-sun emblem as hundreds of demonstrators below cheered and chanted for “Democracy for Iran” and “Free Iran.”

The flag — used during the rule of the shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution — remained aloft for several minutes before being removed, as London police said additional officers were deployed and multiple arrests were made for aggravated trespass.

Hours earlier, Trump declared that Iran is “looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” adding that the United States “stands ready to help.”

(Read more from “Trump Steps Up Support for Iranian Protesters in Flurry of Posts — ‘USA Stands Ready to Help’” HERE)

Trump Admin to Carry Out Preliminary Attack Plans on Iran — As Officials Consider What Sites to Target: Report

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The Trump administration is reportedly preparing preliminary plans for an attack on Iran, including the option of large-scale airstrikes.

Officials are considering how to follow through on President Trump’s recent elevated threats against the Islamic Republic, including what sites might be targeted, insiders told the Wall Street Journal.

A massive aerial strike campaign on multiple Iranian military targets is one option being considered — although Washington has not reached consensus on a plan of action.

No military equipment or personnel have been moved for a potential attack, the insiders said.

The conversations do not indicate that the US will strike, with the sources explaining that the planning is routine.

Trump, however, teased that the US was gearing up to retaliate should Tehran continue killing protesters in a post on Truth Social. (Read more from “Trump Admin to Carry Out Preliminary Attack Plans on Iran — As Officials Consider What Sites to Target: Report” HERE)

Reports: China Expected to Replace Venezuelan Oil with Iranian Crude

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Oil industry analysts expect China to replace its oil imports from Venezuela with increased purchases of Iranian crude, following the arrest of China’s ally Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces over the weekend.

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Maduro’s successor, interim president Delcy Rodríguez, and other Venezuelan officials have agreed to sell up to $2 billion in crude oil to the United States. The deal would divert oil coveted by China to U.S. refineries.

Trump explicitly instructed Rodríguez to evict Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and Cuban agents from Venezuela and sever all economic ties with those nations. He also demanded exclusive contracts and favorable prices with American refiners for Venezuelan crude oil. The socialist Maduro regime long ago destroyed Venezuela’s refining capacity, so the oil-rich but desperately impoverished nation is heavily reliant upon foreign refineries.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told U.S. lawmakers that Venezuela has filled every available tanker and storage facility with crude oil, frustrated by Trump’s blockade on sanctions-defying oil shipments, and the post-Maduro government faces financial collapse in a few weeks if it cannot generate income by selling its crude oil. These two factors would presumably make Caracas receptive to Trump’s demands to divert its shipments from China to the United States.

Trump said on Tuesday that Venezuela would hand over 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States immediately. Other administration sources said shipments to American refiners would continue “indefinitely” thereafter, with the profits to be held in U.S.-controlled accounts and shares released back to Venezuela at U.S. discretion. Most of that oil would have otherwise gone to China. (Read more from “Reports: China Expected to Replace Venezuelan Oil with Iranian Crude” HERE)

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Plans to Flee to Russia If Security Team Fails, Turns on Him as Regime Gripped by Unrest: Report

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Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly plans to escape to Moscow if his security team falters or turns on him amid ongoing unrest in his country featuring protesters chanting for his death.

Khamenei, 86, will catch a flight with his inner circle, including roughly 20 aides and members of his family, if the Islamic Republic’s army is overwhelmed by the swelling protests – or if the security forces decide to defect, an intelligence source told The Times.

His son and “nominated heir apparent” would also flee, the source said.

Khamenei’s general escape plan mirrors that of fallen Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who fled Damascus by plane and landed in Moscow with his family – while the country’s opposition forces stormed the nation’s capital in December 2024.

“They have plotted an exit route out of Tehran should they feel the need to escape,” which includes “gathering assets, properties abroad and cash to facilitate their safe passage”, the source said. (Read more from “Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Plans to Flee to Russia If Security Team Fails, Turns on Him as Regime Gripped by Unrest: Report” HERE)

U.S. Blocks Iranian Diplomats From Shopping at Costco, Imposes Luxury Goods Ban During UN Visit

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The Trump administration has moved to restrict Iranian diplomats visiting the United States from accessing wholesale retailers such as Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, as part of a broader effort to limit what officials describe as luxury privileges for the Iranian regime during their visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

In a statement released Monday, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the new restrictions are aimed at preventing Iranian officials from engaging in what he called a “shopping spree” while Iranian citizens continue to suffer under economic hardship.

“We will not allow the Iranian regime to allow its clerical elites to have a shopping spree in New York while the Iranian people endure poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and dire shortages of water and electricity,” Pigott said.

According to a notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register, Iranian diplomats — including those stationed at the Iranian Mission in New York — will now require U.S. government approval to obtain memberships and make purchases at any wholesale club store. These stores, known for selling goods in bulk at reduced prices, are widely used by diplomats and foreign delegations to procure goods often unavailable or heavily sanctioned in their home countries.

The policy also includes restrictions on luxury goods. Iranian officials will need specific permission to purchase any item valued over $1,000, including electronics, watches, jewelry, leather and silk apparel, perfumes, alcohol, and vehicles priced above $60,000.

In addition to commercial restrictions, the U.S. has re-imposed strict limitations on the movement of Iranian diplomats, confining them to the immediate vicinity necessary to travel between the United Nations headquarters and their accommodations. This echoes similar restrictions from previous years but arrives at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and ongoing disputes over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to lead the Iranian delegation to the UN, amid rising uncertainty over the future of the 2015 nuclear agreement and the anticipated re-imposition of UN sanctions that were previously lifted under the accord.

The U.S. also denied entry to Palestinian Authority officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, blocking them from attending a scheduled two-state solution conference on Monday.

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Iranian Lawmakers Backing Development of Nuclear Weapons; Iran Suspends Cooperation with IAEA

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By Iran International. 71 members of parliament sent a letter to the Supreme National Security Council and the heads of the three branches of power, urging a “review of the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine,” Iranian media reported Monday.

The lawmakers wrote that the use of nuclear weapons “was the subject of the Supreme Leader’s 2010 fatwa,” but argued that building and stockpiling them “as deterrence is another matter.” (Read more from “Iranian Lawmakers Backing Development of Nuclear Weapons” HERE)

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Iran Suspends Cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency

By Al Mayadeen English. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced on Saturday the suspension of its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The decision, made during a high-level council meeting, follows the E3’s “politically motivated move” of reimposing nuclear sanctions on Tehran. . . 

Iranian lawmakers have repeatedly warned that any attempt to exploit pressure tactics will be met with a “harsher and more decisive” response than before.

European diplomats have alleged that Iran has yet to take the necessary steps to avert the return of sanctions, while Iranian officials insist the country can withstand renewed pressure. (Read more from “Iran Suspends Cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency” HERE)

Report Warns of Looming Collapse in Iran Amid Mounting Executions and Nuclear Ambitions

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The Islamic Republic of Iran is facing an existential crisis that could spiral into civil war if not managed properly, according to a new report released this week by the UK-based Henry Jackson Society.

The report comes as the United Nations accuses Tehran of executing nearly 900 people in 2025 alone, describing the surge in executions as a “tool of intimidation” against dissent. The sheer scale of repression, combined with economic discontent and rising opposition movements, has fueled speculation that the regime’s grip on power may soon weaken.

“If the Islamic Republic falls, there is a danger that regime collapse could lead to a vacuum of governance that is accompanied by civil war,” the report warns. “This is an outcome that must be avoided at all costs for the Iranian people, and every step must therefore be made to ensure that any transition is quick and painless.”

The findings stress that Iran’s ruling clerical elite remains firmly committed to the 1979 revolution and its ideological mission, which includes “reconstituting its nuclear program and exporting terrorism both regionally and internationally.” These ambitions, the report argues, make the regime an enduring threat not just to its own people but also to Western security.

Targeted airstrikes by Israel, reportedly carried out with U.S. support in June, damaged Iranian nuclear sites and temporarily set back Tehran’s program.

“This offers a greater prospect of galvanizing the Iranian opposition if there is a plan for the day after as opposed to a vacuum of governance,” the report concludes. “And in so doing, it contains the best prescription for both resolving the threat the Iranian regime poses to the international community, and to its own people.”

The analysis comes at a time when economic hardship, protests, and international isolation have pushed Tehran into one of its most fragile moments in decades—raising the question of whether Iran is on the verge of transformation, or turmoil.

‘Deeply Disturbing’: Prime Minister Announces They’re Banning Iran’s Ambassador

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Monday that his government is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran after intelligence officials linked Tehran to two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.

Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) uncovered evidence that Iran directed assaults in 2024 on a Sydney kosher restaurant and a Melbourne synagogue. Days earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Albanese of having “betrayed” and “abandoned” Israel and the Australian Jewish community.

“Enough credible intelligence has now been gathered to reach the deeply disturbing conclusion that the Iranian Government has directed at least two of these attacks,” Albanese said in a statement. “These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. This is an attack on our society, aimed at creating fear, stoking internal divisions and eroding social cohesion.”

ASIO found the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney last October and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December, Albanese said.

As part of the response, Australia is expelling Iran’s ambassador and relocating its own diplomats stationed in Tehran to a third country, Albanese said. The government also plans to formally designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. (Read more from “‘Deeply Disturbing’: Prime Minister Announces They’re Banning Iran’s Ambassador” HERE)

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Iran Told to Comply with Nuclear Demands or Face Consequences after ‘Serious’ Meeting

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European diplomats met with Iranians on Friday face-to-face for the first time since Israel and the U.S. bombed the country last month.

The “serious, frank and detailed” meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, lasted for around four hours and the officials all agreed to meet again for continued negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

Sanctions that were lifted on Iran in 2015 after it agreed to restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear program could be reimposed if Iran doesn’t comply with requirements.

One of Europe’s E3 nations – Britain, France and Germany, who held the talks with Iran – could bring back sanctions under the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the European countries to bring back U.N. sanctions if Iran violates the conditions.

European leaders have also said that sanctions will start being reinstated by the end of August if there is no progress on reining in Iran’s nuclear program. (Read more from “Iran Told to Comply with Nuclear Demands or Face Consequences after ‘Serious’ Meeting” HERE)

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