Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has alleged that nationwide protests have \u201cturned violent and bloody to give an excuse\u201d for United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country.<\/p>\n
Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the violence spiked over the weekend but the \u201csituation is now under total control\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n He said Trump\u2019s warning of military action against Tehran should \u200cprotests turn \u200cviolent motivated \u201cterrorists\u201d \u2060to target protesters and security forces \u200cto invite foreign intervention. \u201cWe are ready for war but also for dialogue,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Araghchi also said Iran has footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding authorities will soon release confessions of detainees.<\/p>\n The demonstrations were \u201cstoked and fuelled\u201d by foreign elements, he said, noting security forces would \u201chunt down\u201d those responsible.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s spiralling protests have entered a third week amid a nationwide internet blackout and repeated military intervention threats from Trump.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s government has declared three days of national mourning for the \u201cmartyrs\u201d killed during the protests, including members of the security forces.<\/p>\n The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.<\/p>\n Authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have lost their lives, but opposition activists based outside the country said the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera cannot independently verify either figure.<\/p>\n Initially prompted by anger over the rising cost of living, the demonstrations have evolved into nationwide protests and a serious challenge to the government in place since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.<\/p>\n The Fars news agency reported that limited protests took place in several neighbourhoods of the capital on Sunday night.<\/p>\n There were limited \u201criots\u201d in the Navvab and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods of Tehran, Junqan and Hafshejan in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, and Taybad of Mashhad, which were dispersed by security forces, according to Fars.<\/p>\n The agency reported that the other cities and regions in the country were generally calm without \u201criots\u201d overnight.<\/p>\n On Monday, Iranian media showed reported footage of pro-government rallies on its Telegram channels from various cities, including a vast one in Tehran, attended by thousands.<\/p>\n State-run agencies showed footage of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attending the rally in Tehran.<\/p>\n In the footage shared by the Tasnim News Agency, he was seen greeting flag-waving citizens, while marching among them.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called the government\u2019s response to the situation a \u201cwar against terrorists\u201d, as he addressed the gathering in the capital.<\/p>\n Iran is fighting a \u201cfour-front war\u201d, he said, listing economic war, psychological war, \u201cmilitary war\u201d with the US and Israel and \u201ctoday a war against terrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n A nationwide internet blackout has entered its fourth day, according to reports, a move widely criticised by human rights organisations.<\/p>\n Connectivity watchdog NetBlocks reported internet service across Iran is still down, describing the situation as a \u201cnational internet blackout\u201d.<\/p>\n It has now been 84 hours since the country last had consistent connectivity. NetBlocks noted, however, that some Iranians have developed methods to bypass the restrictions.<\/p>\n There have been fewer videos showing protests on social media recently due to the internet shutdown.<\/p>\n United Kingdom-based Amnesty International slammed the practice on Friday as a way of hiding \u201cviolations in escalating deadly crackdowns on protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n Araghchi said internet service would soon be restored and the government was coordinating with the security establishment to make progress on that. He said connections would be restored at embassies and government ministries too.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s leadership wants to show the situation in the country is under control, and that is why the internet will be turned back on, Mehran Kamrava, an Iran analyst at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Araghchi \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to lose face\u201d, he added, \u201cbut what we\u2019re seeing is a multipronged approach\u201d by Iran to end the turmoil.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the remarks by Araghchi are \u201cpart of the same rhetoric that we have been hearing from different Iranian political figures\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, there are three components we have to keep in mind when it comes to this particular discourse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n First, Asadi said, Iranian officials have been expressing that they recognise people\u2019s \u201cright to take part in peaceful protests\u201d due to the economic difficulties they are facing.<\/p>\n Second, he said, they are saying the country is also witnessing \u201cunrest flaring up into violence\u201d that has been going on since Thursday, resulting in fatalities, injuries and arrests, and stressing the deaths of Iranian security officers.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s correspondent said the third component that made the situation \u201ceven more complicated\u201d was \u201crising security concerns related to foreign intervention\u201d.<\/p>\n As protests persist despite a security crackdown, Trump said on Sunday that the US is considering \u201cstrong options\u201d in response to the situation in Iran, including possible military intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we\u2019re looking at some very strong options. We\u2019ll make a determination,\u201d he told reporters on board Air Force One, adding that Iran\u2019s leaders have called \u201cto negotiate\u201d after his threats of military action and a \u201cmeeting is being set up\u201d.<\/p>\n Earlier on Sunday, Speaker Ghalibaf warned the US against \u201ca miscalculation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cLet us be clear, in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,\u201d said Ghalibaf, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n Iran faced a 12-day war with Israel and the US last year when Israel attacked in June and Washington bombed the country\u2019s three primary nuclear sites.<\/p>\n The war killed hundreds of civilians, military commanders and scientists, and Tehran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, killing 28 people.<\/p>\n Since the protests have broken out, Pezeshkian has pledged to take action on the economy.<\/p>\n In the interview with state TV on Sunday, Pezeshkian \u2060also accused \u200b\u200dthe US and Israel \u2060of wanting to \u201csow chaos and disorder\u201d \u200bby ordering \u201criots\u201d, and he called \u200cupon Iranians \u200cto \u2060distance themselves from \u201crioters and \u200cterrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of the 12-day war. State TV has aired images of burning buildings, including a mosque, as well as funeral processions for security personnel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has alleged that nationwide protests have \u201cturned violent and bloody to give an excuse\u201d for United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country. Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the violence spiked over the weekend but the \u201csituation is now under total control\u201d. Recommended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018National internet blackout\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Iran](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26009440808190-1768202417.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
\u2018We\u2019re looking at some very strong options\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"