What we covered
• At least 78 protesters have been killed and more than 2,600 arrested during two weeks of anti-government protests that have rocked Iran, according to a US-based human rights group. The demonstrations have spread to more than 180 cities across all of Iran’s provinces, in a wave of nationwide unrest triggered by crippling economic conditions.
• Protesters have described enormous crowds and feelings of hope, but also brutal violence and “bodies piled up on each other” in a hospital. A doctor told CNN that hospitals are “extremely chaotic” and patients are terrified to be identified amid the crackdown by authorities.
• An internet blackout imposed by officials is also ongoing, according to a watchdog, but one Tehran resident told CNN it has failed to quell protests.
• US President Donald Trump has said the US is ready to help the Iranian people — without spelling out what that help might look like — posting a message in solidarity with those standing up to the Iranian regime. Earlier, he threatened to attack Iran if security forces respond violently to protests, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US supports the country’s people. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the US for inciting protests.
Our live coverage has ended for the day. Get the latest here.
Videos show fireworks over Tehran, protesters chanting "Death to the Dictator" and mosque on fire
Video from social media verified by Reuters on Saturday showed protesters gathered in Tehran’s Punak Square as fireworks exploded and chants of “long live the Shah!” could be heard.
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Video from pro-reform news outlet IranWire shows protesters marching on the streets of Tehran chanting, “Death to the Dictator” and “Long Live the Shah” on Saturday night.
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On Friday footage from social media verified by Reuters showed Al-Rasool Mosque on fire in the capital.
People in the video could be heard saying, “Saadatabad (West Tehran), Friday 21:40. People have again taken over Saadatabad. The d… agents have escaped. The crowd is coming. ‘Death to the dictator’, ‘Death to Khamenei’,” Reuters reports.
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Iranian state media, Press TV, also shared video Friday on its Telegram channel described as footage that “documents the aftermath of last night’s riots in Tehran’s Saadat Abad neighborhood as rioters set fire to the Al-Rasool Mosque along with several civilian vehicles.”
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The mayor of Iran’s capital Tehran said protesters have targeted economic infrastructure – including dozens of banks and mosques. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
“I have never seen such scenes in my life.” Medical staff share horrific scenes from hospitals in Iran
Iranian medical personnel and eyewitnesses have described harrowing scenes from the week to pro-reform outlet IranWire.
In Shiraz on Friday, medical staff were attending to a woman who was shot in the head. Hooked up to a ventilator, blood is seen smeared on the side of her head.
“I have never seen such scenes in my life,” one of the medical staff is heard saying in a video shared with IranWire. “The shameless people shot (her) in the head and neck. Do you have any idea how many patients we have until now?”
A doctor in Neyshabur said security forces shot at protesters from the top of buildings on Friday.
“They are shooting from rooftops and terraces. They are not on the street where people can see and run away,” she says in an audio message to IranWire. “They even shoot at ordinary pedestrians.”
The doctor said a family of six passing by was shot – so was an elderly woman’s nurse as she was on her way home.
“How many more are going to die here?” she says.
One medical source says at least six people were killed following a protest at Tehran’s Qala’e Hassan Khan area on Thursday. Each of them had been shot in the head and neck, the source said in recordings sent to IranWire.
A day later, protests in the same area were also met with a heavy-handed crackdown, with security forces shooting at protesters from the top of a building, according to the medical source. Protesters set fire to a bank and tried to take a base belonging to the paramilitary Basij force, the source said and added that an 11-year-old boy was shot and would “probably lose his testicle.”
After security forces fired at people in Najafabad on Thursday, the injured were taken to Montazeri hospital, according to a medical source there.
“People rushed to the hospital to take the bodies of their children, and they took their children and buried them in the same clothes,” the medical staff member said. In Iranian Muslim culture dead bodies are typically washed then covered in a white cotton fabric before burial.
Mohammad Lesanpezeshki, a Chicago doctor educated in Tehran, told CNN that his friends working in Iranian hospitals are overwhelmed as more protesters are injured in government crackdown. Before the internet blackout cut off contact, his friends told him what they saw.
“One person who’s an orthopedic surgeon said that they had multiple bodies in their ED (emergency department), at least 30 people that were shot in their limbs,” said Lesanpezeshki.
The friend told Lesanpezeshki that his hospital in Tehran ran out of blood for transfusions, and called another doctor at a facility nearby to check if they had any.
The doctor at the other hospital was “crying on the phone because they have no blood supplies,” Lesanpezeshki said.
His friends also told him that Farabi Eye Hospital in Tehran experienced a particular surge in patients with pellets lodged in their eyes, with roughly 200 to 300 patients. Lesanpeseshki’s friends were all working as physicians during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, and saw similar albeit fewer eye injuries then.
Prior to the internet shutdown on Thursday, other medical sources told IranWire that at least 500 people went to hospitals in Tehran with eye injuries.
At least 78 protesters killed in Iran over past two weeks, according to US-based rights group
US-based Iranian human rights group HRANA estimated Saturday that at least 78 protesters have been killed in the past 14 days in connection with ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran.
HRANA said in a news release that at least 116 have died in the protests in total, including 38 security personnel.
At least seven of the protesters killed were under 18, HRANA said. The group also reported that at least 2,638 people had been arrested.
“Based on aggregated data up to the end of the fourteenth day, 574 protest locations have been identified in 185 cities across all 31 provinces of the country,” the group said. The number of locations is cumulative, beginning when the protests started on December 28.
CNN is unable to independently verify HRANA’s casualty numbers, arrest figures or its tally of locations where protests have occurred.
“Examination of the causes of death shows that most victims were killed by live ammunition or pellet gunfire, predominantly from close range,” the HRANA news release said.
An eyewitness told CNN earlier that Iranian authorities had hit one of her in-laws with pellets at a protest on Friday.
Trump says US "ready to help" in message of solidarity with Iran protesters
President Donald Trump said today the US is ready to help the Iranian people — without spelling out what that help might look like — posting a message in solidarity with those standing up to the Iranian regime.
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday.
Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, today also told the Iranian people that they’ve caught the president’s attention, forecasting that their “long nightmare” would soon be over.
“Your bravery and determination to end your oppression has been noticed by @POTUS and all who love freedom,” Graham said on X.
Graham elaborated on what he believes Trump means by “Make Iran Great Again” and signaled “help is on the way.”
“It means the protestors in Iran must prevail over the ayatollah. That is the clearest signal yet that he, President Trump understands Iran will never be great with the ayatollah and his henchmen in charge. To all who are sacrificing in Iran, God bless. Help is on the way,” Graham said.
Without elaborating further on what role the Defense Department might play, Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted Trump’s message that “The USA stands ready to help” the Iranian people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also posted today that “The United States supports the brave people of Iran.”
Iranian state media reports 200 "ringleaders" of protests arrested
Iranian state media, Press TV, reported Saturday that at least 200 “ringleaders of riots in Iran” were arrested. “A significant cache of weapons” was also discovered at their safe houses. State media reports they had ties to terrorist groups.
Earlier Saturday, semi-official news agency Tasnim reported 100 people were arrested in the Iranian county of Baharestan near Tehran for disrupting public order and leading “riots.”
Meanwhile, more than 2,300 people have been arrested across Iran in the past 13 days during the unrest, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). This figure could be much higher as HRANA said it is not possible to establish an exact figure due to the internet blackout.
CNN could not independently verify the numbers.
See how Iranian state media Press TV is covering the story:
It's past midnight in Iran. Here's what you need to know
At least 65 people have died and more than 2,300 have been arrested across Iran in the past two weeks, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, amid protests spurred by rampant inflation.
It marks the biggest challenge to the Iranian regime in years.
The actual death toll could be much higher, as HRANA said it is not possible to establish an exact figure due to the country-wide internet blackout.
Meanwhile, several pro-government demonstrations were held in verious cities, though it is unclear how large they were.
- Voices from the ground: Eyewitnesses describe seeing Iranian security forces killing dozens of people with “military rifles,” including a 5-year-old. The deaths and injuries are leading to scenes of chaos at health facilities, with one woman telling CNN she saw bodies “piled up” at one hospital.
- Internet blackout: Iran hasn’t had internet for over 48 hours now, according to watchdog NetBlocks. One Tehran resident said that’s driving even more people to take to the streets to protest. Prominent Iranian filmmakers have condemned the blackouts as “tools of repression.”
- Warnings from authorities: Iranian police have told citizens to keep a close eye on teenagers amid reports of damaged property. The country’s attorney general said legal proceedings against protesters involved in destroying property would be carried out “without leniency.”
- Reaction outside Iran: A protester was seen tearing down the Iranian flag at the country’s embassy in London and hoisting the pre-revolution flag in front of a crowd protesting outside the building. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States supports the people of Iran after President Donald Trump reiterated his threat on Friday to attack Iran if security forces killed protesters.
CNN’s Catherine Nicholls, Billy Stockwell, Caitlin Danaher, Max Saltman, Hira Humayun, Jomana Karadsheh and Laura Sharman contributed to this post.
Iranian describes "nightmare" in Tehran as authorities attacked protesters on Friday
An Iranian social worker who attended a protest in Tehran on Friday said the situation deteriorated into a “nightmare” when authorities attacked demonstrators.
The social worker told CNN that she attended protests in Tehran’s Narmak neighborhood, both on Thursday and Friday. Thursday night was “really great,” she said, reminding her of the wave of demonstrations experienced during the 2009 Green Movement. However, she said that Friday night’s protest was different.
When she and her husband arrived at the protest’s “peak” on Friday, the two were barely able to move due to the number of people there. Then authorities began firing at protesters.
She said that she witnessed a girl being shocked in the neck with an electric device “until she passed out.”
“Then they were killing people,” she said, including her coworker’s son. “It was truly a nightmare.”
Iranian doctor says authorities have killed dozens, including children, in Neyshabur
An Iranian doctor in the northeastern city of Neyshabur told CNN in an audio message that Iranian authorities used “military rifles” to kill “at least 30 people” there yesterday.
The doctor added that the attacks left many injured, and that authorities have shot pedestrians and bystanders.
“Hospitals are extremely chaotic and patients terrified to admit and be identified,” she said. “For this reason, we are trying to inform people and treat them privately in clinics.”
CNN is unable to independently verify the number of casualties she provided. One US-based rights group has estimated at least 65 deaths at protests within the past 13 days, though CNN could not independently verify those figures, either.
CNN has reached out to the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, DC, and the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
Protesters in Tehran describe seeing "bodies piled up" in hospital after crackdown by authorities
Several Iranians who protested in Tehran over the past few days have spoken to CNN about what they have witnessed, describing enormous crowds and feelings of hope, as well as brutal violence and scores of dead bodies.
A woman in her mid-60s and a 70-year-old man described seeing people of all ages out in the streets of the Iranian capital on Thursday and Friday.
Last night, however, security forces brandishing military rifles killed “many people,” they said.
Other demonstrators in a different neighborhood of Tehran told CNN that they helped a man in his mid-60s who had been severely injured in the crackdown. He had around 40 pellets lodged in his legs and had a broken arm, they said.
They tried to get the man medical help at several different hospitals but said that the situation was “completely chaotic.” One woman described seeing “bodies piled up on each other” in the hospital.
Others told CNN that the number of people out on the streets was incomparable to anything they had ever experienced before, describing the scenes as “unbelievably beautiful and hopeful.”
A televised speech by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last night changed this atmosphere. Shortly afterward, the crackdown turned incredibly violent, the protesters said.
Protester tears down Iranian flag and hoists pre-revolution flag at London embassy
A protester was seen on video tearing down the Iranian flag from the country’s embassy in London and holding up Iran’s pre-revolution flag.
In another video, the pre-revolution flag is seen hanging from the flagpole and a man standing in the balcony removing it as protesters chant insults at him.
UK police said they were aware of protests outside the embassy, during which one protester climbed the balcony of the building.
Two people were arrested, according to London’s Metropolitan Police. One person was taken in for aggravated trespass and assault on an emergency worker while the other was arrested for aggravated trespass. Police are looking for another person for trespassing.
Some background: Yesterday, social media platform X appeared to change the Iranian flag emoji to that of Iran’s pre-revolution flag, following a user request. When Iran’s monarchy was in power, the country’s flag was a horizontal tricolor of green, white and red with a lion-and-sun symbol. The old flag is popular among some who oppose the country’s current regime. When the clergy-led government took power after the 1979 revolution, it replaced the lion-and-sun symbol with a new coat of arms and included a Kufic script inscription of “Allahu Akbar” along the inside edges of the stripes.
CNN’s Max Saltman contributed to this post.
Iran has been without internet for 48 hours, monitoring group says
Iran’s internet blackout has reached the 48-hour mark, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks.
“Iran has now been offline for 48 hours, as telemetry shows the nationwide internet blackout remains firmly in place,” NetBlocks said in a post on X.
A Tehran resident confirmed to CNN today that cell service is unavailable in the Iranian capital.
Yesterday, NetBlocks director Alp Toker told CNN that that some Iranians have been able to contact the outside world using contraband Starlink terminals or cell service from neighboring countries.
“National blackouts tend to be the regime’s go-to strategy when deadly force is about to get used against protesters,” Toker said, “with the goal being to prevent the spread news of what’s happening on ground, and also to limit international scrutiny.”
However, one 47-year-old resident of Tehran earlier told CNN under the condition of anonymity that the blackout has had the opposite effect, drawing more protesters to demonstrations.
“The internet shutdown appears to have backfired, as boredom and frustration drove even more people into the streets,” he told CNN.
CNN’s Paula Hancocks reports on what the blackout means for protesters:
Iran is in a near-total internet blackout as anti-government protests spread across the country. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on what the blackout means for protesters.
CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore and Caitlin Danaher contributed.
Detained Iranian human rights activist has experienced "severe beatings" in prison, her foundation says
Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was detained by Iranian authorities in December, has experienced “severe beatings” while being held in prison, according to her foundation.
Mohammadi was “violently detained” by security and police forces on December 12, the foundation said at the time. Two days later, she reported being “subjected to physical ill-treatment — including severe beatings to the head and neck with batons — and threats of further violence,” the foundation said in a statement released today.
Mohammadi has been “deprived of her right to legal counsel and regular family contact,” according to the statement. In her only call since being detained, she said that authorities are attempting to fabricate a case against her, “accompanied by threats such as ‘we will put your mother in mourning’,” the foundation said.
If she was not detained, Mohammadi “would be with the people, amplifying their voices and calling for an end to the theocratic regime,” it continued.
Iran’s supreme leader has posted on social media despite the internet shutdown. How is this possible?
The communications blackout in Iran continued today after authorities cut internet access and telephone lines in Tehran and other cities on Thursday.
Despite the shutdown, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continued to post on X, using the platform to call protesters “a bunch of people bent on destruction” and to criticize US President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Khamenei posted on X 12 times.
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at network intelligence platform Kentik, who studies internet disruptions, explained to CNN how this might be possible.
If the Iranian regime wanted to turn the internet back on, “they could do that for any person or any particular internet connection. They probably have some set of things they’ve pre-identified to leave connected,” Madory said.
“We can see a small trickle of traffic coming out. So, there is some. It’s very small, but it’s not zero. It’s probably some high value people who have maintained connectivity,” he added.
Anti-regime protests have reached "new level" and could be difficult for authorities to quell, analyst says
Anti-regime protests in Iran have reached a “new level,” and if their momentum is kept up, a crackdown from authorities will be less likely to quell the growing movement, according to a political analyst.
“This situation would eventually pave the way for cracks within the power elite and the repressive apparatus, as they realize they cannot reverse the tide,” he said.
Even if the demonstrations are suppressed, Fathollah-Nejad said this might not be a long-term win for the regime, “given the severity of the underlying grievances, the regime’s inability and unwillingness to implement structural reforms, and the resulting irreversible gap between state and society.”
As we’ve reported, the latest protests began as demonstrations in capital Tehran’s bazaars over rampant inflation. The move by the bazaaris, as they are known, was a drastic measure for a group traditionally supportive of the Islamic Republic.
Prominent Iranian filmmakers condemn communications blackout
Two of Iran’s most influential filmmakers have denounced the Iranian government’s imposition of a communications blackout as one of its “blatant tools of repression” to conceal violence against protesters.
The filmmakers said they were “deeply concerned” for the lives of their fellow citizens, families, friends and colleagues who have been left “defenseless” due to the blackout.
“History bears witness that silence today will have regretful consequences in the future,” the statement concluded.
Panahi, who won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May last year for his film ‘It Was Just an Accident,’ has endured multiple run-ins with the Iranian government, including imprisonment, most recently from 2022 to 2023.
Rasoulof, who was nominated for an Oscar for his film ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’, was forced to flee Iran in 2024 after a court in Iran sentenced him to prison on national security charges.
Who is Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted shah?
Among the slogans chanted by protesters across Iran in the last two weeks, many have been calling for the return of the country’s monarchy.
“This is the last battle. Pahlavi will return,” demonstrators were seen shouting in video reviewed by CNN. “Javid Shah (long live the king)!” they cried. “Reza Shah, God bless your soul!”
The man they were referencing, Reza Pahlavi, is the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, the Persian word for king.
Based in the US, he has sought to position himself as a de facto leader, declaring support for the protests and issuing direct calls for coordinated nationwide action.
Pahlavi’s father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted during Iran’s 1979 revolution. Pahlavi was aged 16 at the time.
In the years since, support for the deposed monarchy became taboo in Iran. Analysts say that it is unclear what might be driving the renewed excitement for the royal family in Iran.
Arash Azizi, an academic and author of the book “What Iranians Want,” told CNN that, while Pahlavi “has turned himself into a frontrunner in Iranian opposition politics,” he is also a “divisive figure and not a unifying one.”
The rallying around Pahlavi is the surest sign, analysts say, that Iran’s Islamic Republic appears to have hit a dead-end.
“Iranians aren’t opting for (Pahlavi) because he is present in the community but because they are despondent,” said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert and professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
Watch more about Pahlavi below and read about him in our full profile here.
Nearly 50 years after Iran’s revolution, the son of the ousted Shah of Iran is drawing renewed attention as protests spread. CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh explains the significance.
Counter-rally planned in Tehran on Monday, state-affiliated news agency reports
A large counterprotest is expected to take place in Iran’s capital city Monday to “condemn the actions of rioters” amid anti-regime protests across the country, according to semi-official news agency Tasnim.
The rally is due to start in Tehran at 2 p.m., Tasnim reported. On Friday, some demonstrators gathered in apparent counterprotests to express support for the country’s government.
Pro-reform news outlet IranWire confirmed that pro-government demonstrations were held in several Iranian cities Friday, but the scale of these counterprotests was unclear.
Iranian police warns citizens to "take care of their youth" amid reports of vandalism during protests
Iran’s Police Command Forces, Faraja, has advised citizens to keep a close eye on their teenagers amid reports of damaged property during the ongoing protests.
Police urged families to “be careful of the youth and teenagers, given the firm decision not to tolerate violence,” in an announcement reported by Iranian state media outlet IRIB.
For context: The statement comes as Iran’s attorney general warned protesters committing acts of vandalism targeting public property would be charged “moharebeh,” translated as “waging war against God,” according to IRIB. Moharebeh can be punishable by death.
Legal action against protesters will be carried out "without mercy," Iranian attorney general says
Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi Azad said legal proceedings against protesters will be carried out “without leniency, mercy or appeasement,” according to the semi-official news agency Tasnim.
The attorney general said that “all criminals are enemies in this matter.”
Remember: Tehran’s prosecutor said Friday that acts of vandalism targeting public property will be considered “moharebeh,” translated as “waging war against God,” according to Tasnim.
The punishment for moharebeh includes execution.
