Iran protests latest: Tehran says it has arrested 100 ‘armed rioters’ after threatening death penalty

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also gave his backing to the protesters on Saturday.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio posted on X as the regime hit out at Donald Trump for allegedly interfering.

Trump has threatened Iran with force if it kills protesters rallying against the government.

“You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too,” the president said on Friday.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spent more than three decades consolidating power by crushing internal threats.

He now faces his most significant challenge yet as widespread protests grip the nation.

But who is the supreme leader of Iran clinging onto power against a rising tide of dissent?

One hundred people have reportedly been arrested in Baharestan, a county in Tehran province, amid the widening government crackdown.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on the arrests this morning, citing the local governor.

The detainees were accused of disrupting public order and using firearms and other weapons against security forces and law enforcement, the report said.

The agency is linked to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards. The report comes as Iran tries to deter civilians from joining demonstrations with the protests approaching their third week.

HRANA, an NGO advocating for rights in Iran, reported on Friday that 65 people have been killed in the last two weeks of protest.

– 14 law enforcement and security forces

– 1 government-affiliated citizen

Of the 50, seven were identified as children under the age of 18.

The provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Ilam, Kermanshah and Fars were worst affected, with 38 people killed in total.

HRANA notes that the internet blackout has made it impossible to establish an exact death toll definitively. The 65 come from verified reports over the past 13 days.

Editorial: Iran’s unremittingly harsh leadership faces one of the most serious challenges to its theocratic rule since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979.

After weeks of nationwide protests, the ayatollahs’ spell could soon be broken – which is how counter-revolutions begin, and governments fall:

Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi is calling for another two days of protest, with the authorities desperately trying to block opposition voices from mobilising support.

This morning he posted on social media to urge Iranians to “come to the streets” today and tomorrow from 6pm.

He also called on workers to strike nationwide.

It’s now been 36 hours since the internet blackout was put in place, limiting the reach of his message.

Iran’s army is insisting it will safeguard the country’s national interests, strategic infrastructure and public property with widespread protests still ongoing.

It also urged citizens to be vigilant to thwart what it called “the enemy’s plots” on Saturday.

Buildings, buses and shops have been burned to the ground turning Iran’s capital Tehran into a “war zone” as protests break out across the country demanding the fall of the country’s supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khameini.

At least 65 people have been killed in violent clashes with police, according to human rights groups.

This unrest follows a tumultuous period for Tehran, which is still recovering from a 12-day conflict in June, initiated by Israel, that saw US forces bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

Here’s what to know about the protests and the challenges facing Iran’s government.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said Iran’s nationwide internet blackout remained in place on Saturday morning, 36 hours after it was imposed.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, NetBlocks said connectivity restrictions were severely limiting Iranians’ ability to check on the safety of friends and loved ones as the country woke up to continued unrest.

“It’s now 8:00 am in Iran where the sun is rising after another night of protests met with repression,” the group said, adding that network data showed the blackout was still firmly in effect.

The prolonged shutdown has made independent verification of events on the ground increasingly difficult as protests continue across the country.