President Donald Trump urged Iranian civilians to keep protesting and said “help is on its way” Tuesday amid a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations that a U.S.-based human rights group says has killed 2,500 people.
In recent days, Trump has upped the pressure on Tehran, warning that he may launch military strikes while remaining open to negotiations. He also slapped a 25% tariff on those doing business with the Islamic Republic, the theocratic regime that has ruled the nation for nearly 50 years.
He wrote Tuesday morning on Truth Social: “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers.” Then, without providing details, he added: “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Iran has said it is open to diplomacy while threatening the United States and Israel with retaliation if it is attacked. Vice President JD Vance will chair a National Security Council principals meeting on Iran at 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to a source familiar with his schedule.
Inside the Islamic Republic, authorities had cut internet access and foreign phone calls, choking off information about the government's bloody response to demonstrations initially sparked by rising prices. Hundreds have been killed in the last few days alone, activists said, with video showing bodies lined up outside a morgue near Tehran, surrounded by their loved ones crying and screaming.
But Tuesday, some Iranians based abroad and The Associated Press news agency said they had received calls from inside the country. The internet remained down, and calls from outside the country were blocked, the AP said.
Those who called the AP described a heavy security presence in central Tehran, with riot officers standing at major intersections, carrying batons, shields, shotguns and tear gas launchers, it said.
The presence involved the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, as well as plainclothes security officials, the witnesses said. Banks and government offices had been smashed and shops were open, but there was little foot traffic, they added, according to the AP.
Though the theocratic regime claims to have restored order — through deadly force against protesters across the country, according to activists — it is coming under mounting international pressure.
In recent days, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s late deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, urged demonstrators to continue taking to the streets. Pahlavi has positioned himself as a potential future leader of Iran, though he remains controversial inside the country over his family's legacy of repression. It is unclear how much political support he enjoys domestically.
Axios reported Tuesday that White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met secretly over the weekend with Pahlavi to discuss the protests. NBC News has not independently verified the report.
Trump said Monday on Truth Social that he was announcing a tariff of 25% on imports from countries doing business with Iran. The country's largest trading partners are China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and India. That would come on top of any existing tariffs the U.S. has placed on those countries.
The protests have spread to every Iranian province, and the crowds remained huge, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of events told NBC News. The State Department has told Americans to leave the country.
The demonstrations were ignited by economic grievances as the rial currency crashed and inflation soared. Iran’s economy has been hobbled in part by sanctions from the U.S. and other international entities over the regime’s nuclear program. The protests have morphed into one of the biggest challenges the Islamic Republic has faced in its 47-year history.
The level of violence surpassed the previous round of protests in 2022 and 2023, human rights groups said.
“There is much more violence, and I think it has got to do with how threatened the Islamic Republic feels,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, said in a telephone interview.
As of Tuesday morning, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said, around 2,500 people had been killed and more than 16,780 others had been arrested. The organization relies on supporters inside Iran to cross-check information.
Authorities in Iran have not given an official death toll.
Some videos that were not previously seen because of the internet blackout have been circulating on social media, and NBC News has been able to geolocate them to different cities around the country.
It is not clear when the video was shot.
A video circulating Monday showed a man lying on the street in Tehran, bleeding heavily from his abdomen amid huge crowds of protesters. Two men stand over him arguing whether he was shot by a “pellet” or “military-grade” weapon, while a woman screams in horror.
Another video that circulated Monday from the city of Urmia in northwest Iran shows a large crowd kicking and punching members of security forces, who in turn hit back with batons.
Protesters continued to call for the downfall of the regime. In a video recorded in Arak, in western Iran, that circulated Sunday, the crowd chants, “This is the year of blood, Moosh-Ali will be overthrown,” a reference to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the country.
Iranian authorities tried to downplay the momentum of the protests.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the situation was now “under total control.” He also told Al Jazeera that “the internet was only cut after we confronted terrorist operations and realized that orders were coming from outside the country,” an allegation authorities have leveled against the U.S. and Israel without providing evidence.
Khamenei said in a message that large government counterdemonstrations Monday were a sign of the strength of the Iranian people and a warning to the U.S. not to meddle in the country.
“This was a warning to American politicians to stop their deception and not rely on treacherous mercenaries,” he said, according to state media.
