Updated on: Jan 13, 2026 8:51:52 AM IST
Members of the Iranian police attend a pro-government rally in Tehran, Iran, January 12, 2026.
Iran Protests LIVE Updates- Tehran said on Monday it was keeping communication channels with Washington open as US President Donald Trump considered how to respond to Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, one of its gravest tests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Adding to threats of military action, Trump late on Monday announced that any country doing business with Iran, a major oil producer, will face a new tariff of 25% on its exports to the US
“This Order is final and conclusive,” Trump said in a social media post, without providing further detail about the legal authority he would use to impose the tariffs, or whether they would be aimed at all of Iran’s trading partners. The White House did not comment on the issue.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York also did not say anything on Trump’s tariff announcement. Iran, already under heavy US sanctions, exports a significant portion of its oil to China, with Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and India among its other top trading partners.
Trump has warned Iran’s leaders that the United States would attack if security forces open fire on protesters. On Sunday, he said the US may meet Iranian officials, and he was in contact with Iran’s opposition.
Iran’s leaders, their regional clout much reduced, are facing fierce demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment.
US-based rights group HRANA said by late Monday it had verified the deaths of 646 people, including 505 protesters, 113 military and security personnel and seven bystanders, and was investigating 579 more reported deaths. Since the protests began on December 28, 10,721 people have been arrested, according to the group.
HRANA said it received reports and videos on Monday from Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery, where family members of victims “gathered at burial sites and chanted protest slogans.”
While airstrikes were one of many alternatives open to Trump, “diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” she said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Tehran was examining ideas proposed by Washington, although these were deemed “incompatible” with US threats.
“Communications between (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff and me continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing,” he told Al Jazeera.
The US Department of State Consular Affairs highlighted the escalating protests and said US citizens in Iran should consider leaving by land to Armenia or Turkey.
“US nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest, and detention in Iran,” the department said on its TravelGov account on X.
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“This Order is final and conclusive,” Trump said in a social media post, without providing further detail about the legal authority he would use to impose the tariffs, or whether they would be aimed at all of Iran’s trading partners. The White House did not comment on the issue.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York also did not say anything on Trump’s tariff announcement. Iran, already under heavy US sanctions, exports a significant portion of its oil to China, with Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and India among its other top trading partners.
Trump has warned Iran’s leaders that the United States would attack if security forces open fire on protesters. On Sunday, he said the US may meet Iranian officials, and he was in contact with Iran’s opposition.
Iran’s leaders, their regional clout much reduced, are facing fierce demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment.
US-based rights group HRANA said by late Monday it had verified the deaths of 646 people, including 505 protesters, 113 military and security personnel and seven bystanders, and was investigating 579 more reported deaths. Since the protests began on December 28, 10,721 people have been arrested, according to the group.
HRANA said it received reports and videos on Monday from Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery, where family members of victims “gathered at burial sites and chanted protest slogans.”
While airstrikes were one of many alternatives open to Trump, “diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” she said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Tehran was examining ideas proposed by Washington, although these were deemed “incompatible” with US threats.
“Communications between (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff and me continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing,” he told Al Jazeera.
The US Department of State Consular Affairs highlighted the escalating protests and said US citizens in Iran should consider leaving by land to Armenia or Turkey.
“US nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest, and detention in Iran,” the department said on its TravelGov account on X.
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Jan 13, 2026 8:51:51 AM IST
Iran Protests LIVE Updates: Malala Yousafzai speaks out on stir
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday highlighted the decimating freedom of women and girls in Iran, saying that they have long been restricted from all aspects of public life.
Yousafzai further said that the restrictions have spanned across several spectrums and go way beyond the classroom.
In a post on X, she said, “The protests in Iran cannot be separated from the long-standing, state-imposed restrictions on girls’ and women’s autonomy, in all aspects of public life, including education. Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, demand a life with dignity.”
“The people of Iran have long warned about this repression, at great personal risk, and their voices have been silenced for decades. These restrictions exist within a wider system of gendered control shaped by segregation, surveillance, and punishment — one that limits freedom, choice, and safety far beyond the classroom,” she added.
Jan 13, 2026 8:47:47 AM IST
Iran Protests LIVE Updates: Donald Trump briefed on military, other options, report says
US President Trump received a briefing from senior officials on Monday on possible responses to Iran’s protests, including military strikes, cyber operations, and psychological measures to support protesters, CBS News reported, citing sources.
“The officials said cyber and psychological operations can occur simultaneously with traditional military force, in what military planners call integrated operations. They could also be deployed as stand-alone options,” CBS reported.
“The two American officials said that no final decision had been made and that diplomatic channels remain open,” the report said.
Jan 13, 2026 8:44:47 AM IST
Iran Protests LIVE Updates: 646 deaths so far, rights group says
US-based rights group HRANA said by late Monday it had verified the deaths of 646 people, including 505 protesters, 113 military and security personnel and seven bystanders, and was investigating 579 more reported deaths.