Image source, Reuters

Russia's foreign ministry has strongly criticised the US over "threats to deliver new military strikes", and calls Trump's trade tariffs threat "blackmail".

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says US threats of strikes against Iran are "categorically unacceptable".

She warns the US against using the unrest in Iran as a "pretext" for repeating strikes on the country - after its air force struck three nuclear sites in June last year.

The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman suggests such action would have "disastrous consequences" in the Middle East, "as well as for global international security".

Following Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on US imports for Iran's trading partners, Zakharova says: "We also resolutely reject the unceremonious attempts to blackmail Iran's foreign partners by raising trade tariffs."

Addressing the anti-government demonstrations in Iran, she says the "artificially fuelled protests" are dying down, giving hope there will be a "gradual stabilisation of the situation".

Has Donald Trump made up his mind?published at 15:49 GMT 13 January

15:49 GMT 13 January

Paul Adams
World Affairs correspondent

President Trump's typically all-caps social media post on Tuesday has raised the stakes dramatically.

Spurring on Iranian protestors, urging them to take over Iranian institutions and log the names of their “killers and abusers”, sounded like the words of a president convinced that the Iranian regime could soon fall.

And his post contained the clearest hint yet that Mr Trump is set on some kind of direct intervention.

“HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

Senior officials are due to discuss possible courses of action at a White House meeting today.

At the weekend, President Trump suggested he might be willing to pursue diplomatic channels, following what he described as an Iranian offer of talks.

But it seems diplomacy has, for now, been set aside.

“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Online, all-caps threats are a familiar feature of this president’s leadership style, and he hasn’t always followed through.

But having promised to come to the rescue of Iranian protesters, and with hundreds – perhaps thousands – of them now dead, Donald Trump appears to have made up his mind.

It’s hard to see him backing down now.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump just briefly came and spoke to reporters outside the White House, before boarding his helicopter and leaving for Detroit.

He said nothing about Iran, other than to direct us to his recent post.

Domestic concerns are clearly his focus today.

He lauded the state of the American economy and new inflation numbers, briefly touched on Fed Chair Jerome Powell - who he said was either "crooked" or "incompetent" - and rattled off a list of cities in which he claims crime has fallen because of his public safety efforts.

After taking just two questions, he walked to the helicopter, followed by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) say that 1,847 protesters have been killed in Iran since the demonstrations began on 28 December.

The human rights group add that nine of those are under the age of 18, 135 are government-affiliated personnel and nine are civilians.

This, they say, brings the total number of killed is 2,000.

The BBC has not independently verified these figures. Most international news organisations, including the BBC, are barred from reporting inside Iran, so social media is relied upon to verify what is happening on the ground.

Unclear what 'help' Trump means, and when it might comepublished at 15:12 GMT 13 January

15:12 GMT 13 January

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

I'm currently outside at the South Lawn of the White House, from where President Trump will very shortly depart for his economic speech in Detroit later this afternoon.

There are several dozen reporters outside with me, many of whom will be hoping for clarity about what Trump meant when he posted that "help is on its way" to protesters in Iran.

We are unlikely to get much. Trump is known for keeping thoughts on his decision-making close to the chest.

Several analysts I've spoken to in recent months have described this as "strategic ambiguity" to leave people - including potential rivals abroad - guessing as to his true intentions.

We saw something similar over the summer when he kept the world in suspense before striking Iranian nuclear facilities, as well as early this year when it came to capturing Nicolás Maduro.

US media has reported that Trump was scheduled to be briefed today on a variety of options for Iran - including both "kinetic" and less violent ones - to punish Iran for the shooting of protesters and send a clear message to the government in Tehran.

What we don't know is what "help" he is leaning towards, and when that might come.

We're turning attention away from the foreign secretary's statement briefly, as we've just heard from US President Donald Trump.

He writes on social media platform Truth Social: "Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.

"I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY".

Image source, PA Media

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says the UK condemns the killing of protesters in Iran "in the strongest possible terms".

She says UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined France and Germany's leaders in condemning the violence, and adds that she has reiterated this stance message during a phone call with Iran's foreign minister.

Today, Cooper continues, the government has summoned the Iranian ambassador "to underline the gravity of this moment and to call Iran to answer for the horrific reports we are hearing".

We're now hearing from UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is giving a ministerial statement in the House of Commons on the current situation in Iran.

She calls Iran's crackdown on anti-government demonstrations the "most brutal and bloody repression against public protests in Iran for at least 13 years".

We'll bring you more from her statement, which you can watch live above, shortly. Stay with us.

Trump risks reigniting trade war, as enforcing new tariffs could prove difficultpublished at 14:22 GMT 13 January

14:22 GMT 13 January

Jonathan Josephs
BBC business reporter

US President Trump says countries doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on trade with the US - but can he enforce them? Our business reporter takes a closer look:

Trump says these secondary tariffs are “effective immediately” but the lack of detail or an executive order suggests they might not have come into force yet.

The main target is likely to be China which buys the majority of Iran’s oil and is therefore its biggest source of income.

But that risks reigniting the trade war between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies. Beijing is unlikely to take kindly to being told where it can and can’t buy its oil from.

Announcing new tariffs and sanctions on social media is easy, but enforcing them is far more difficult.

Despite years of such restrictions Iran is estimated to have made $78bn from oil exports in 2024. It's done that by using a fleet of shadow ships that are hard to track and by selling its oil in Chinese Yuan rather than the more traditional US dollars.

Last year I spoke to Richard Nephew, one of the chief architects of US sanctions on Iran and he said "sanctions maintenance is as big a task as the imposition of sanctions in the first place, that's because the party that is being sanctioned takes steps to evade them".

If President Trump's tariffs do indeed come into force, that may push some countries away from buying Iranian energy - but their aim of cutting of funding to the Iranian government is unlikely to ever fully materialise.

You can find out more about why Iran's economy is struggling and the impact of international sanctions , externalon the BBC News YouTube channel.

Reha Kansara
News Reporter

I’ve covered the impact of internet shutdowns across the globe for many years. One question that consistently crops up is whether these shutdowns are a breach of human rights laws.

In this instance, Iran is part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Created by the United Nations, the treaty calls for basic civil and political rights of individuals, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

According to the human rights organisation Article 19, "blanket internet shutdowns fail to meet the strict tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality required under international law".

Jeremy Laurence, the spokesperson for the UN's human rights office tells me that Iran’s actions "undermine freedom of expression and access to information," and impacts "the works of those documenting human rights violations."

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

This is not the first time the Iranian authorities have cut off the internet in the country.

Previous instances include the 2019 fuel price protests, the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests - during which restrictions were applied intermittently - and the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict in June.

Alp Toker, Director at NetBlocks, tells the BBC that they have "racked successive blackouts over several years as Iran’s authorities fine-tuned their censorship mechanisms".

Toker says that "what once involved networks being taken down individually has now become an instant, centralised process. So the idea of an internet ‘kill switch’ is no longer figurative".

In those earlier cases, overall connectivity was reportedly higher, with some phone services and limited VPN access remaining available to segments of the population.

"By the time of the 2025 Israel-Iran war blackout and thereafter, shutdowns had become faster and more comprehensive, with even standard phone calls disabled. These kinds of outages are no longer exceptional events but part of how connectivity is routinely managed in Iran", Toker says.

In 2019 and June 2025, connectivity dropped to approximately 4-5% and 3% respectively.

Unlike those periods, the present blackout has shown no significant fluctuations or temporary restorations of access.

How Iran's internet shutdown has impacted verifying materialpublished at 13:26 GMT 13 January

13:26 GMT 13 January

By Adam Durbin

Verifying material from Iran has been increasingly difficult in recent days because the government has imposed a total internet blackout, restricting our ability to get a full picture of the scale of events.

The shutdown has hampered our ability to pinpoint exactly when a lot of protest footage was recorded, as Iranians cannot easily share video and images as events are developing on the ground or in their immediate aftermath.

This means video is often shared days after it was recorded when individuals managed to find other ways to connect to the internet.

Monitoring service Netblocks has been tracking the lack of connectivity:

Image source, Netblocks

Fact-checking the turnout at Iran's pro-government ralliespublished at 13:13 GMT 13 January

13:13 GMT 13 January

Image source, Getty

By Ghoncheh Habibiazad and Shayan Sardarizadeh

Iran held pro-establishment rallies across the country yesterday, attended by thousands. BBC Persian has seen text messages inviting people to take part in these events.

State TV channels this morning continued to praise the “high turnout” at the state-organised rallies yesterday.

The Fars news agency, which is close to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that around three million people had participated in yesterday’s march in the capital Tehran in support of the establishment.

But this figure has been disputed by foreign-based Iranian fact-checking platform Factnameh, who say the crowd was closer to around 140,000 people.

“This figure is implausibly exaggerated, and it can be stated with confidence that the actual number was several dozen times lower,” it says on its X page.

A number of online users also questioned several photos shared by state TV and pro-government agencies of crowds in Tehran’s Enghelab Square, claiming that they were old and dated back to crowds at the funeral of top Iranian commander Qasem Solemiani who was assassinated by the US in January 2020.

But reverse search indicates the photos are recent, and we were able to match them with aerial videos of yesterday’s rally broadcast by state TV.

Iranian authorities may have won this battle, but with each major challenge their power ebbs awaypublished at 13:04 GMT 13 January

13:04 GMT 13 January

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

In Iran the protests may be quieter, but the full horror of deaths and injuries are only now becoming clearer.

A government official says those killed number at least 2,000, including security forces. The true figure may be much higher.

Iranians can now make phone calls abroad but Iran’s international isolation has deepened.

"We are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime." said German Chancellor Merz today. "When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime."

Not all of them though. Pro-government crowds have been out in force, showing their loyalty to the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile President Trump has announced 25% tariffs on any country doing business with Iran. China, a major customer for Iranian oil, said it would defend its interests.

For now, the Iranian authorities may have won this battle. But this is the third major challenge to their rule in under seven years. And each time their power ebbs away ever further.

Image source, Reuters

The European Union will "swiftly" propose further sanctions on authorities responsible for the "repression" of anti-government protests in Iran, says the president of the EU Commission.

In a statement on X, Ursula Von der Leyen calls the number of casualties in Iran amid anti-government protests "horrifying" and condemned "the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom".

She adds that, coordinating with her deputy Kaja Kallas, "further sanctions on those responsible for the repression will be swiftly proposed".

"We stand with the people of Iran who are bravely marching for their liberty," she says.

As we reported earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that "we are now witnessing the final days and weeks" of the Iranian regime.

We've now heard from Iran's foreign minister, who says: "Of all governments, the one in Germany is perhaps the worst placed to address 'human rights'. The reason is simple: its blatant double-standards over the past years have obliterated any shred of credibility."

"Do us all a favour: have some shame," he adds.

If you're just joining us, here's what you need to know:

• Thousands of people are feared dead following Iran's crackdown on anti-government protests
• Demonstrations in the country began over two weeks ago - here's a reminder of how we got here
• An Iranian security official has told Reuters news agency the death toll could be around 2,000 people
• After a digital blackout, some international calls from Iran have today gone through - Iranians describe terrible levels of death and destruction in their first calls abroad for days
• Erfan Soltani, a 26-year old protester detained last Thursday, will reportedly be executed tomorrow, according to the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said everyone is "witnessing the final days and weeks" of the Iranian regime, as European nations summon their respective Iranian ambassadors
• US President Donald Trump's national security team is expected to hold a meeting at the White House to discuss options for Iran, as Iran's foreign minister says the country is "ready for any action"
• This comes after Trump said yesterday that countries doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on trade with the US

We'll continue to bring you the latest on the developing situation in Iran, stay with us.

Image source, EPA

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said Iran is "prepared for any action" by the US as Donald Trump weighs his options for intervention.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi said Iran's readiness "is much greater" than it was when the US conducted military strikes on Iran in June 2025. He added that he hoped "the wise option is chosen".

President Trump's national security team is expected to hold a meeting at the White House to discuss options for Iran, officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Trump has been briefed on a wide range of covert and military tools for use in Iran, which include long-range missile strikes and cyber operations, two Department of Defense officials told CBS.

The two sources said that any US military response in Iran will likely involve air power, but that planners are also considering options to disrupt Iranian command structures and communications.

Image source, Reuters

The BBC has received repeated reports of Iranian security forces cracking down on protests with deadly force as thousands are now feared dead as a result of the violent clampdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Earlier we heard from one Iranian who said they saw security forces fire directly into a line of protesters and “people fell where they stood”.

Medics have also described hospitals as "overwhelmed" with dead and injured.

We are relying on external reports to estimate the number of people who have been killed due to the days-long internet blackout in Iran.

Among those reportedly killed are football coach Amir Mohammad Koohkan, 26, and Aminian, 23, a Kurdish fashion student.

Iranian state media also yesterday broadcast funeral processions for members of security services who had been killed.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed security forces had brought anti-government protests under total control on Monday.

According to state TV, supporters of the authorities took to the streets in solidarity against recent "terrorist actions". There have been unconfirmed reports of some protests continuing last night.

The death toll from the crackdown on anti-government protests Iran is now feared to be in the thousands, according to BBC Persian correspondent Jiyar Gol and a source speaking to Reuters news agency.

Gol says he can "say with confidence, the numbers who have been killed must be in thousands", adding that although the government has used force before, "this time around it is absolutely unprecedented".

Reuters news agency has also reported an Iranian security official as saying the death toll could be around 2,000 people. The source said the estimation included security personnel as well as civilians and blamed "terrorists" for the deaths.

This comes as the UN's human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a conference in Geneva that "reports indicate hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested".

This estimate comes from the UN's own sources on the ground, Laurence said. "These are reliable sources".

The update comes after one human rights group yesterday said it believed nearly 650 protesters have been killed and thousands injured.

Various factors make it difficult to determine the number of people who have died during the protests in Iran. The country restricts international news organisations from operating there and there has been an internet blackout for the past five days.