As death toll surges in Iran, leaders take tough line against protesters

Faced with surging anti-government protests, Iran's president vowed to address economic grievances but showed no signs of backing off a harsh crackdown, with rights groups saying the death toll has jumped in recent days to nearly 200 dead and possibly many more.

"Our responsibility is to solve and address people's grievances. But we also have a duty not to let rioters destabilize the country," the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in an interview with Iranian state television Saturday. He spoke as protesters in Iran face an intensifying and deadly repression by authorities.

Demonstrators took to the streets starting two weeks ago, spurred by economic distress over a sudden plunge in the value of Iran's currency. Over the past few days, the protests have broadened into a mass movement, with many calling for the overthrow of Iran's authoritarian clerical rulers.

The death toll since the protests began rose sharply by Sunday to at least 192 protesters, according to Iran Human Rights, a US-based rights groups. HRANA, another rights group based in Washington, said it had confirmed the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel.

The reason for the discrepancy in tolls was not immediately clear, but both are a large spike from the groups' estimates just a day earlier, apparently underlining the increasingly violent nature of the confrontation.

Assessing the violence and size of the protests is challenging because the Iranian authorities have imposed a near total internet blackout for the past three days, and have cut off international phone calls.

As protests escalate, Iran's theocracy looks increasingly vulnerable, and senior officials have sought to lay the blame on the United States and Israel, saying they are backing the protesters.

Iran's military and nuclear facilities were battered by a 12-day war with Israel in June, and the country has been sinking into a severe economic crisis after the reinstatement of UN economic sanctions last year.

Adding to the pressure, President Donald Trump has said he could strike Iran if the authorities kill peaceful protesters, and several US officials told The New York Times on Saturday that he has been briefed on new options for military strikes.

Such threats feel particularly potent in the aftermath of US forces' capture of Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month.

"If the United States takes military action, both the occupied territories and US military and shipping lanes will be our legitimate targets," Mohammed Ghalibaf, Iran's speaker of parliament, said in a statement Sunday, according to Iran's semiofficial news agency, Tasnim. Both US and Israeli military bases could be targets, he added.

Israel's army said it was "prepared defensively" for any attack, while the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, commended the protesters.

"Israel supports their struggle for freedom and firmly condemns the mass killings of innocent civilians," he said. "We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be liberated from the yoke of tyranny, and when that day comes, Israel and Iran will once again be faithful partners."

Iranian authorities have played a delicate balancing act in their response to the protests, acknowledging economic grievances and attempting to take measures to address them, while also accusing both the United States and Israel of supporting "rioters" who they portray as hijacking the demonstrations.

The protests in recent days have not only grown significantly in size, they appear to have become increasingly violent on both sides. Government buildings have been set ablaze, while Iran's chief of police, Brig. Gen. Ahmadreza Radan, blamed the deaths and injuries on "unpaid soldiers of Iran's enemies."

"A significant portion of those killed died from bladed weapons and knife wounds. In cases involving gunfire, the shooting distance was very close, indicating that these actions were not carried out by security forces, but by trained and directed elements," Radan said.

According to HRANA, the rights group, more than 10,000 people have been arrested so far.

Some activists have reported Iranian security forces storming hospitals to seek out the injured. Skylar Thompson, HRANA's deputy director, said difficulties reaching people inside Iran had made it hard to ascertain what was happening inside medical facilities. But she said the organization had confirmed cases of injured protesters being removed from hospitals.

"We have hospital documents that show individuals have been impacted with tear gas, we have similar instances of people being hit with bullets -- rubber bullets and live ammunition -- and being transferred to detention facilities without proper care," she said.

Unlike some Iranian security officials and even the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Pezeshkian has previously tried to take a tone of government responsibility for the economic pain many Iranians are feeling, offering small reforms, though economists say they are not enough to address the severity of the crisis.

"Do not look for America or anyone else to blame," he said during a visit to southwestern Iran last week. "We must serve properly so that people are satisfied with us."

His latest comments suggest the president may now be toughening his stance.

"The enemy has brought trained terrorists into the country. Those causing disturbances and riots are not protesting citizens," he said.

On Saturday, Trump said in a post on social media that "Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help."

Pezeshkian urged the people of Iran -- a major oil-producing country -- not to be taken in by the US president's comments. Referring to the US plans to control Venezuela's oil production after Maduro's capture, he said, "Someone who shamelessly steals a country's presidency and then says he was after that country's oil is not someone who cares about you."