Protesters shout slogans during a pro-Iranian regime demonstration in front of the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on Sunday. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP via GettyAt least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing “terrorists and armed rioters” of killing “innocent Iranians”. US president Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if protesters continued to be killed on the streets or were executed. The Iranian authorities ‍regularly blame unrest on foreign enemies, including Israel, an arch-foe of the Islamic Republic which launched military strikes on Iran in June. The Iranian Kurdish rights group Hengaw, ‌based in Norway, has said some of the heaviest clashes during ⁠protests that erupted in late December were in Kurdish areas in the northwest.

Source: The Irish Times January 18, 2026 20:40 UTC