Violence surrounding protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy killed two other people raising death to at least 10<\/b>
\nViolence surrounding protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic\u2019s ailing economy killed two other people, authorities said Saturday, raising the death toll in the demonstrations to at least 10 as they showed no signs of stopping.
The new deaths follow US President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran \u201cviolently kills peaceful protesters,\u201d the United States \u201cwill come to their rescue.\u201d While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response from officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast.
The weeklong protests, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
The deaths overnight into Saturday involved a new level of violence. In Qom, home to the country\u2019s major Shiite seminaries, a grenade exploded, killing a man there, the state-owned IRAN newspaper reported. It quoted security officials alleging the man carried the grenade to attack people in the city, some 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.
Online videos from Qom purportedly showed fires in the street overnight.
The second death happened in the town of Harsin, some 370 kilometres (230 miles) southwest of Tehran. There, the newspaper said a member of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, died in a gun and knife attack in the town in Kermanshah province.
Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran\u2019s 31 provinces, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
Iran\u2019s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran\u2019s rial has rapidly depreciated, with USD 1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.
The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran\u2019s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since its June war with Israel in which the US also bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Iran.
Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic programme to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic programme.
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