Trump-Iran latest: President threatens ‘very strong action’ if Tehran executes protesters as deaths pass 2,500

Germany and France say they summoned their respective Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to protest the crackdown against demonstrators.

The German ministry wrote in a social media post that “the Iranian regime’s brutal action against its own population is shocking.”

It called on Iran to end the use of violence against its own people and “respect their rights”.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot denounced Iran’s repression of protesters, which Barrot called “intolerable, unbearable, and inhumane”.

Addressing lawmakers at France’s National Assembly, Barrot said that France “condemned the repression in the strongest possible terms, denouncing this state violence that was unleashed blindly upon peaceful protesters”.

“I have conveyed this condemnation to the Iranian foreign minister and it will be reiterated to the Iranian ambassador to France, whom I summoned today to the Foreign Ministry,” he added.

Regime change, a return to monarchy or a bloody authoritarian crackdown? What are the future scenarios for Iran, asks chief international correspondent Bel Trew

The American leader called for demonstrations, triggered initially by a spiralling economy, to continue and warned Iran would “pay a big price” for the killings.

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.