More than 10,600 people have been arrested, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Of the dead, 490 were protesters and 48 were members of the security forces, the report said, warning the toll was likely to rise.
With Iran’s internet outage and phone lines cut, it has become more difficult to gauge demonstrations from abroad.
The activist group, which relies on cross-checking information by activists in Iran, has offered accurate toll rates during previous rounds of unrest in the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian government has not given overall casualty figures for the demonstrations. The Associated Press has not been able to independently determine the toll as internet and international phone calls are now blocked in Iran.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament warned on Sunday that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if the US attacks the Islamic Republic over the ongoing protests roiling the country, as threatened by President Donald Trump.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the threat after nationwide protests against Iran’s theocracy saw the streets in the country’s capital and second-largest city flooded until Sunday morning, surpassing the two-week mark. At least 203 people have been killed in the violence surrounding the demonstrations, activists said, amid fears the death toll could be much higher.
With Iran’s internet outage and phone lines cut, it has become more difficult to gauge demonstrations from abroad.
Those abroad fear the information blackout will prompt hardliners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown.
Trump offered support to the protesters, saying on social media: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The US is ready to help!!!” The New York Times and Wall Street Journal said Saturday evening, citing anonymous US officials, that Trump had been presented with military options for an attack on Iran but had not yet made a final decision.
Parliament meets
Protesters attend a protest in support of the Iranian people outside Downing Street, as protests have spread across Iran since late December in response to rising inflation and demonstrators demanding an end to clerical rule, in London, Britain, January 11, 2026. | Photo credit: REUTERS/Chris J Ratcliffe
Iranian state television broadcast the parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hardliner who has run for president in the past, gave a speech in which he applauded Iran’s police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, especially the all-volunteer Basij, for “standing firm” during the protests.
He then threatened Israel, “the occupied territory” as he called it, and the US military directly, possibly with a pre-emptive strike.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, the occupied territory as well as all US military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to post-action response and will act based on objective signals of a threat.” Lawmakers stormed onto the stage in Iran’s parliament, shouting: “Death to America!” It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching an attack, especially after its air defenses were destroyed during June’s 12-day war with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S. military has said that in the Middle East it “has forces that cover the full range of combat capabilities to defend our forces, our partners and allies, and U.S. interests.” Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Middle East is based in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Israel, meanwhile, is “closely monitoring” the situation between the US and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke last night with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on topics including Iran, the official added.
“The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” said Netanyahu, a longtime Iran hawk.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on activists in Iran to monitor information, offered Sunday’s new death toll of 203 a big jump. Of the dead, 162 were protesters and 41 were members of the security forces, the report said. The agency also acknowledged receiving claims of many more deaths that it was still reviewing, as more than 3,280 others have been arrested.
The group has made accurate toll payments during previous rounds of unrest in the Islamic Republic. The Iranian government has not given overall casualty figures for the demonstrations.
The Associated Press has not been able to independently assess the toll because communications with Iran have been cut.
At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV called Iran a place “where ongoing tensions continue to claim many lives.” “I hope and pray that dialogue and peace may be patiently nurtured in pursuit of the common good of all society,” he said.
Protests in Tehran and Mashhad
Online videos sent from Iran, likely using Starlink satellite channels, reportedly showed protesters gathering in the Punak neighborhood of northern Tehran. There, authorities appeared to close off the streets as demonstrators waved their lighted cellphones. Others banged metal as fireworks went off.
“The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived and fluid rallies, an approach that has formed in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure,” the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. “Reports have been received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements of security forces around protest sites, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control.” In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city about 450 miles (725 kilometers) northeast of Tehran, footage reportedly showed protesters confronting security forces. Protests also appeared to take place in Kerman, 800 kilometers southeast of Tehran.
Iranian state television had its correspondents take to the streets in several cities on Sunday morning to show quiet areas with a date stamp on the screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included.
The government’s rhetoric was also increased on Sunday. Ali Larijani, a top security official, accused some protesters of “killing people or burning people, which is very similar to what ISIS does,” referring to the Islamic State group by an acronym.
State television broadcast funerals of slain security force members and reported that another six had been killed in Kermanshah. Thirteen people were killed in violence in Fars province, and seven security forces were killed in North Khorasan province, it added. It also showed a pickup full of bodies in body bags and later a morgue.
Even Iranian reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had tried to calm anger in recent days before the demonstrations erupted, took a hardened tone in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
“People have concerns, we need to sit with them and if it is our duty, we need to address their concerns,” Pezeshkian said. “But it is a higher duty not to allow a group of rioters to come and destroy the entire society.”
More demonstrations are planned for Sunday
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi asked demonstrators to take to the streets in his latest message on Sunday.
Protesters have shouted support for the Shah at some protests, but it is not clear whether that is support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to the days before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pahlavi’s support for and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past, especially after the 12-day war.
The demonstrations began on December 28 over the collapse of Iran’s rial, which is trading at more than $1.4 million to the dollar, with the country’s economy under pressure from international sanctions imposed in part over its nuclear program. The protests increased and grew into calls that directly challenged Iran’s theocracy.
Published on January 11, 2026
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