Iran protest updates: Trump to Iranians- ‘keep protesting, help on the way’
US president says he cancelled all meetings with Iran officials as Iranian FM brushes off threats of US attack.
Iranian FM Araghchi warns Iran ready for war if US wants to ‘test’ it
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- US President Donald Trump has urged Iranians to “keep protesting” and “take over” institutions in the country, saying he has cancelled “all meetings” with Iranian officials, adding that “help is on the way”.
- United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk says he is “horrified” by violence in Iran amid reports that hundreds of people have been killed during the protests.
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tells Al Jazeera: “If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it.”
- Tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators take to the streets in a show of force after weeks of deadly protests as Iran continues to be cut off from the internet for a fifth-straight day.
- More than 100 security personnel have been killed in recent days, Iran’s state media report, while opposition activists say the death toll is higher and includes thousands of protesters. Al Jazeera cannot independently verify these figures.
Here’s what happened today
This page will be closing soon. But before we do that, here are today’s top developments:
- US President Donald Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” and announced that he had cancelled talks with Iran.
- Iranian state television acknowledged reports of a high death toll from nationwide protests and quoted Ahmad Mousavi, the head of the Martyrs Foundation, as saying that “armed and terrorist groups” were to blame.
- Internet services remain cut off in Iran, with Cloudflare, which provides internet services, reporting that the internet has been off for “over 120 hours — more than five days”.
- Several European countries have summoned Iranian ambassadors to protest the deadly crackdown on protesters.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Brussels would “swiftly” propose new sanctions on Iran over its crackdown on protesters.
- Russia, an ally of Iran, condemned what it described as “subversive external interference” in Tehran’s internal politics, adding that US threats of new military strikes were “categorically unacceptable”.
- Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group, which has strong ties with Iran, said the recent large pro-government rallies that took place in Iran “expressed the true will of the Iranian people”.
Amnesty chief raises concern about executions in Iran
Agnes Callamard says that amid the crackdown on protests, “concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”.
Callamard cited the case of Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old protester from the Alborz province in northern Iran, whom she said authorities may execute as early as Wednesday.
“The international community must urgently call on Iranian authorities to immediately halt Soltani’s and all other executions,” Callamard said in a social media post.
“Following the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iran’s authorities weaponized the death penalty and since embarked on an execution spree killing thousands.”
‘US military intervention is not the answer’: Bernie Sanders
The progressive US senator says the US should back the Iranians by demanding an end to the violent crackdown on protests and internet restrictions, and calls for free elections in the country.
“US military intervention is not the answer. It failed in the past and will fail again,” Sanders said in a statement. “The United States must stand with the Iranian people, not over them.”
Before Iran crisis, US said it would shift focus from Middle East
Trump has been threatening military action in Iran, but weeks before the crisis started, the US president’s own National Security Strategy said the US would shift its focus of foreign policy resources away from the Middle East.
The US administration envisioned a rosy future for the region, saying that instead of dominating Washington’s interests, the Middle East “will increasingly become a source and destination of international investment”, including in artificial intelligence.
It describes the region as an “emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment”.
More broadly, the strategy said the US should not impose change on other countries.
“US policy will be realistic about what is possible and desirable to seek in its dealings with other nations,” the document reads. “We seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories.”
US Senate Republicans back Trump’s Iran policy
US Senate Republicans have lauded Trump and voiced support for his decision to suspend contact with Tehran.
“President Trump has weakened our adversaries and made our country stronger,” the Republican caucus said on X.
“We applaud the President’s leadership on Iran and support his decision to halt communication with Iranian officials until the regime stops killing protestors.”
WATCH: Trump says Iran protest death toll too high
US President Donald Trump refused to provide more details on his assertion that “help is on the way” to demonstrators in Iran, though he added that too many people have died.
“You’re going to have to find that one out”, he said.
Watch our video for more of his comments:
Trump says he wants to ‘win’ in Iran
Asked what his policy goal in Iran is, the US president says: “The endgame is to win. I like winning.
Trump suggested to CBS News that he is looking for a swift tactical victory, akin to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month and the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen,” Trump said. “And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing. When they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging – we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.”
Trump said he will take “very strong” action in Iran if it hangs protesters, in response to unconfirmed reports emerging about a protester being sentenced to death.
Why Iran is not repeating 1979
Iran is living through one of the most dangerous moments in its post-revolutionary history. Nationwide protests have become sustained rather than episodic. As a new wave of unrest has spread across the country, violence has intensified. The true death toll cannot be verified yet.
These events have revived a familiar question: Is Iran heading towards another 1979?
The temptation to rely on this analogy is understandable. Images of mass mobilisation and rapidly recurring protests evoke memories of the final months of the shah’s rule. Yet the comparison is ultimately misleading.
The success of the 1979 revolution cannot be explained solely by mass mobilisation. Instead, it was the convergence of coordinated opposition under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and, more decisively, the ruling elites’ inability to effectively repress dissent that ensured its triumph.
Read more here.
Trump says he is receiving conflicting reports about casualties in Iran
The US president has reiterated his call for antigovernment demonstrators in Iran to “keep protesting”, saying that officials responsible for the crackdown on dissent will “pay a very big price”.
Trump also said he is not sure about how many people have been killed during the protests.
“Now, I hear five different sets of numbers,” Trump said. “I hear numbers. Look, one death is too much, but I hear much lower numbers, and then I hear much higher numbers.”
Iran internet blackout continues for over 120 hours: Cloudflare
Cloudflare, which provides internet services, has reported that the internet remains cut off in Iran for “over 120 hours — more than five days.”
The internet was shut off across Iran following the outbreak of antigovernment protests and has remained off since January 8.
The #Internet has now been shut down in Iran for over 120 hours — more than five days. The country remains offline amidst ongoing anti-government protests.
Follow the latest status at https://t.co/uMVu3O3zue#IranProtests2026 #IranDigitalBlackout pic.twitter.com/YeB7lNK49m
— Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) January 13, 2026
US Democratic senator backs ‘efforts to help break’ Iranian government
Outspoken pro-Israel Senator John Fetterman has been an outlier in his party in calling for Trump to intervene militarily against Iran.
Fetterman shared a photo of Iranian opposition protesters in Washington, DC, on X with the caption: “I’m proud to stand and support this noble cause. I continue to support targeted efforts to help break this vicious regime that is killing thousands of its own citizens.”
Some of the demonstrators waved the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), a group that critics describe as a cult, which had been blacklisted by the US as a “terrorist” organisation prior to 2012.
The MEK was allied with former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by the US in 2003.
Today at the Capitol, these people are demanding + fighting for a democratic Iran.
I’m proud to stand and support this noble cause.
I continue to support targeted efforts to help break this vicious regime that is killing thousands of its own citizens. pic.twitter.com/Gb2shtVuPS
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) January 13, 2026
Trump likely to launch Venezuela-type operation in Iran, says former official
Mark Kimmitt, a former US State Department official, says there is a “strong likelihood” that Trump will conduct some type of operation in Iran, but its type will be “critical”.
“Now, will this be a land invasion? Of course not. Will this be a repeat of the June 12-day war? Probably not. So, I think he’s going to be narrowly focused, but he’s still going to surprise us all when he does what he does,” Kimmitt told Al Jazeera.
The former official explained that he did not think that Trump was trying to conduct a regime change in Iran, but that “his model is going to be much more as he did in Venezuela”.
“[That] is perhaps, lop the top of the food chain off,” he said. “And in this case, I think it will be the security services, but leave the current government in place. They’re the ones that have been running that government for years and years.”
Iranian, French foreign ministers hold diplomatic call
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and France’s Jean-Noel Barrot have spoken on the phone today, according to Iran’s Tasnim news.
Araghchi reportedly called for France to condemn “foreign interventionist actions in the internal affairs of countries”, likely referring to what Iran describes as outside influence over and arming of groups in the country it blames for the lion’s share of the violence seen during protests since Thursday night. The comments also likely refer to US President Donald Trump’s threats to strike Iran.
The two also discussed bilateral relations between France and Iran, including consular matters, Tasnim said.
As we reported earlier, Barrot summoned the Iranian ambassador over the “unbearable and inhumane” crackdown by Iranian authorities on anti-government protests.
France today also recalled all “non-essential” staff from its embassy in Iran.
‘No organised, viable opposition inside Iran that can take over immediately’
Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, says the Iranian people are “caught between a repressive regime and foreign aggression”.
“If the president [Trump] decides to do political decapitation in Iran, what comes after? There’s no organised, viable opposition inside Iran that can take over immediately,” Vaez told Al Jazeera.
“So the more likely scenario is that more repressive elements within the Revolutionary Guard will take over. If he creates a total vacuum at the top of the Iranian system, then the country might descend into violent chaos and civil strife in the way that we saw in Libya, or in Syria, or in Yemen, or in Iraq.”
Lawmaker says US should not attack Iran with Congress consent
Progressive US Congressman Ro Khanna has condemned what he called the “barbarity” of the Iranian government in attacking protesters, but he warned against unilateral US military action against Iran by Trump.
“The Iranian people are justifiably angry about the repression they face, and they know that the country’s wealth has been wasted on supporting terrorism and war in the Middle East,” Khanna wrote on X.
“The United States though should not engage in military intervention or strikes without Congressional debate and authorization which will only be used by the Iranian regime to stoke an ugly nationalism.”
How US sanctions crippled lives of Iranians Trump says he wants to ‘help’
Iran is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world.
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 14 years of exile in Iraq and France. Following a referendum, Iran was declared an Islamic republic.
The US first imposed sanctions on Iran in November 1979, after Iranian students stormed its embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage.
The 1979 Islamic revolution overthrew the shah, or monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose forces notoriously used repression and torture to keep him in power, without a democratic mandate.
The US, which backed Pahlavi, had also helped topple Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in 1953 in a coup supported by US and British intelligence agencies.
Also in 1979, Washington halted oil imports from Iran and froze $12bn in Iranian assets. Iranian products were banned from import into the US apart from small gifts, informational material, foodstuffs and some carpets.
Read our explainer here.
UAE, major Iran trade partner, says no clarity on Trump’s tariff threat
Thani Al Zeyoudi, the United Arab Emirates’ minister of foreign trade, says details of Trump’s announcement of 25 percent US tariffs on countries that do business with Iran remain unclear.
“We are trying to explore how this is going to be implemented. We are the second-largest trading partner with Iran, and it is one of the main providers and suppliers of many of our commodities, especially food products,” Al Zeyoudi was quoted as saying by The National.
“We have to see, is this going to affect the supply of the food products, or some of the products that come from Iran? Is this going to affect the prices on the consumer and how much they’re paying to have the alternative?”
‘Maybe we should Maduro Khamenei’: US congressman
Randy Fine, a US legislator close to Trump, has cited an unverified report that Iranian security forces have killed 12,000 antigovernment protesters, suggesting that Washington should abduct Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“If this is true … Maybe we should Maduro Khamenei,” Fine, a staunch Israel supporter, wrote on X, referring to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, who was abducted by US forces early in January.
Last month, Fine said the US and Israel should “destroy” all mainstream Muslims, which would include nearly the entire population of Iran.
Qatar, Iran discuss regional developments, Doha backs efforts to ‘de-escalate’ situation
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has expressed Doha’s support for “all efforts aiming to de-escalate and peaceful solutions” in Iran during a phone call with Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani.
In a statement posted on X in Arabic, the Qatari foreign ministry said the two men had discussed the latest regional developments, but did not directly mention the ongoing protests.