Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned the United States and Israel against “a miscalculation”, saying that Tehran will retaliate if it is attacked.

“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

With the country’s government facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.

Authorities intensify crackdown

The protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices. Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest. Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said security forces had stepped up efforts to confront “rioters”.

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.

Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching along a street at night, clapping and chanting. The crowd “has no end nor beginning,” a man is heard saying.

In footage from the northeastern city of Mashhad, smoke can be seen billowing into the night sky from fires in the street, masked protesters, and a road strewn with debris, another video posted on Saturday showed. Explosions could be heard.

Reuters verified the locations.

State TV aired footage of dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office on Sunday, saying the dead were victims of events caused by “armed terrorists”.

Three Israeli sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for the possibility of any US intervention.

An Israeli military official said the protests were an internal Iranian matter, but Israel’s military was monitoring developments and was ready to respond “with power if need be”.

An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June last year, which the United States briefly joined by attacking key nuclear installations.

Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and an American air base in Qatar.

Iran denounces ‘rioters and terrorists’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a TV interview, said Israel and the US were masterminding destabilisation and that Iran’s enemies had brought in “terrorists … who set mosques on fire …. attack banks, and public properties”.

“Families, I ask you: do not allow your young children to join rioters and terrorists who behead people and kill others,” he said, adding that the government was ready to listen to the people and to resolve economic problems.

Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat and Iran expert, thought it unlikely the protests would topple Iran’s ruling establishment.

“I think it is more likely that it puts these protests down eventually, but emerges from the process far weaker,” he told Reuters, noting that Iran’s ruling elite still appeared cohesive and there was no organised opposition.

Iranian state TV broadcast funeral processions in western cities such as Gachsaran and Yasuj for security personnel killed in protests.

State TV said 30 members of the security forces would be buried in the central city of Isfahan and that six more were killed by “rioters” in Kermanshah in the west.

Us ready to help, says Trump

Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source present for the conversation.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, said Trump had observed Iranians’ “indescribable bravery”. “Do not abandon the streets,” Pahlavi, who is based in the US, wrote on X.

Netanyahu, speaking during a cabinet meeting, said Israel was closely monitoring developments. “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny,” he said.

Pakistan embassy in Tehran establishes crisis cell

The Pakistan embassy in Tehran has established a crisis management unit to facilitate its citizens, Pakistan’s envoy to Iran Mudassir Tipu said on X.

The post had a list of contact numbers that may be “maybe reached round the clock for assistance”.

• Farhan Ali: 00989107648298
• Faizan Taimor: 00923343558000
• Kashif Ali: 00923313415284
  Landline ( For All those in Iran): 00982166941388/ 00982166944888