Iran To Hang Anti-Khamenei Protesters, Trump Warns Of "Very Strong Action"

US President Donald Trump has encouraged Iranians to keep protesting, saying, 'Help is on its way," amid a bloody crackdown, which, according to activists, claimed at least 2,000 lives. The US leader also warned the theocratic regime in Tehran against executing protesters, saying the US would take "very strong action" against Iran if its authorities go ahead with the threatened hangings. 

Iran is reportedly set to execute its first protester today, following mass arrests in connection with the widespread anti-regime demonstrations. Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week during the protests in Karaj near the capital, Tehran, is scheduled to be hanged without getting a proper trial, according to human rights groups.

Amid Iran's communication blackout, Elon Musk's SpaceX has reportedly offered free Starlink satellite service in the country. SpaceX has waived the Starlink subscription fee in Iran, so people with receivers in the country can access service without paying, according to Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director of the US group Holistic Resilience, which works with Iranians to secure internet access.

Iran's Shah Meets US Envoy

Meanwhile, White House envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iran's exiled former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, secretly over the weekend to discuss the protests raging in Iran, Axios reported, quoting a senior US official. Pahlavi, who as a boy was groomed to be the next shah of imperial Iran but has spent nearly five decades in exile, has emerged as a rallying figure in the protests shaking the Islamic Republic.

He has appealed to Trump to move "sooner rather than later" against Iran's clerical leadership, as protests continue across the country amid reports of a harsh crackdown.

What's Happening In Iran

Iranian authorities insisted they had regained control of the country after successive nights of mass protests nationwide since Thursday, which have posed one of the biggest challenges to the clerical leadership since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an internet blackout that has now surpassed the five-day mark.

Trump's Warning

Trump -- who told the protesters in Iran that "help is on its way" -- also told CBS News that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters, after Tehran prosecutors said Iranian authorities would press capital charges of "moharebeh", or "waging war against God", against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.

"We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.

"When they start killing thousands of people -- and now you're telling me about hanging. We'll see how that's going to work out for them," Trump said.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, urging Iranians to "KEEP PROTESTING", adding, "I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY."

It was not immediately clear what meetings he was referring to or what the nature of the help would be.

Bloody Crackdown

New videos on social media showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak mortuary just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the number of dead climbed to at least 2,571 early Wednesday. An Iranian official talking to Reuters blamed "terrorists" for the deaths of civilians and security personnel.

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.

Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies. Authorities have declared three days of national mourning for those killed.

Authorities in Tehran have announced a mass funeral ceremony in the capital on Wednesday for the "martyrs" of recent days.

Tehran's Response

The government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a "warning" to the United States. Iran's national security chief accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the “main killers of the people of Iran”.

"We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran," Larijani wrote. "1- Trump. 2- Netanyahu."

In some areas, international phone links were restored on Tuesday, but only for outgoing calls, according to an AFP report, which said the quality remained spotty, with frequent interruptions.

In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which resulted in the killing of top security officials and forced him to go into hiding.

"When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a trip to India. "I believe that we are now witnessing the last days and weeks of this regime."

Analysts, however, have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.

"These protests arguably represent the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic in years, both in scale and in their increasingly explicit political demands," Nicole Grajewski, professor at the Sciences Po Centre for International Studies in Paris, told AFP.

She said it was unclear if the protests would unseat the leadership, pointing to "the sheer depth and resilience of Iran's repressive apparatus".