Iran: dead and injured in protests, regime evokes death penalty. Trump: US ready to help

Meanwhile, Austrian Airlines has decided to suspend flights to Iran until Monday 12 January for security reasons. This was stated by a spokeswoman for the airline.

"Based on the current assessment of the situation, the security department of Austrian Airlines, in coordination with the group's security unit, has recommended as a precautionary measure the suspension of Austrian Airlines flights to and from Tehran up to and including 12 January 2026," the spokeswoman told Austrian Wings'

A decision on whether to resume regular flights to Tehran as of 13 January will be made later, after further evaluation of the situation, he added. Earlier in the week, Flydubai had cancelled all flights to Iran, a spokesman for the carrier reported. Turkish Airlines had also cancelled 17 flights between Istanbul and Iran.

A Tehran doctor told Time magazine on condition of anonymity that only six hospitals in the Iranian capital reportedly recorded at least 217 deaths among protesters, 'most of them from live bullets'. This is what is stated on the magazine's website, also reported by the Israeli newspaper I24.

The death count, if confirmed, Time writes, would signal a feared crackdown, heralded by the regime's near-total blockade of the country's Internet and telephone connections since Thursday evening. The doctor said that the authorities removed the bodies from the hospital yesterday. Most of the victims were young people, he added, including several killed outside a police station in northern Tehran when security forces fired machine guns at protesters, who died "instantly".

Activists reported that at least 30 people were injured in the incident. Yesterday, human rights organisations reported a much lower death toll than the doctor's, although the discrepancy can be explained by different standards of reporting. The Washington-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, which only counts identified victims, reported at least 65 deaths since the protests began. Most of the deaths were reported outside Tehran, in the provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Ilam, Kermanshah and Fars. The Hrana stated that 2,311 people were arrested. Reportedly, hundred people were arrested in Baharestan county, Tehran province.

Warning from the Iranian Supreme Leader against the anti-regime protests that have been sweeping the country for 13 days. "The Islamic Republic will not yield in the face of saboteurs," warns Ali Khamenei in a speech broadcast on state TV, accusing the protesters of wanting to please Donald Trump and stating that the US president will be brought down "like all tyrants".

According to Khamenei, the US president has 'the blood of Iranians on his hands'. The accusation is that he ordered the attacks during the 12 Day War between Israel and Iran last summer. The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, also accused the US and Israel of being involved in the riots. "They are trying to turn peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones," the head of Tehran's diplomacy said during a visit to Beirut, downplaying the possibility of military intervention from outside, "because their previous attempts have been a total failure".

Iran is still offline after the internet blackout imposed by the authorities in an attempt to suppress protests. Alert from the EU calling for communications to be restored. The Nobel Shrin Ebadi fears "a massacre" during the blackout. The blocking of the internet "is not a technical glitch ... is a tactic," the exiled activist warns on his Telegram account, adding that he has received information that hundreds of people have been transported to a Tehran hospital with "serious eye injuries" caused by air gunshots.

The Iranian Army assures that it will go all the way to protect the national interest and disrupt what it calls a 'conspiracy' orchestrated by the US and Israel that has converted the initial protests into a wave of unrest across the country. "The enemy, through yet another conspiracy, supported by the criminal and infanticidal Zionist regime and hostile terrorist groups, seeks to disrupt order and peace in the cities and public security in the country," the Iranian army said in a statement released by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. "The Islamic Republic of Iran Army calls on the Iranian nation to foil the enemy's plots by maintaining vigilance while upholding unity and cohesion," the statement concluded.

The son of the shah Reza Pahlavi appeals to Trump and urges the general strike in the country: 'I am certain that by making our presence in the streets more concentrated and, at the same time, by cutting off the financial channels, we will completely overthrow the Islamic Republic and its worn-out and fragile mechanism of repression'.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu also spoke on the situation in Iran. "This could be the moment when the Iranian people will take responsibility for their own destiny. Revolutions are done better from within. If Iran attacks us, and that could happen, there will be terrible consequences,' he said in a video interview with the Economist.