Iran’s lethal crackdown seems to have broadly quelled protests for now, in keeping with a rights group and residents, as state media reported extra arrests on Friday (January 16, 2026) within the shadow of repeated U.S. threats to intervene if the killing continues.
Fears of a U.S. assault have retreated since Wednesday (January 14, 2026), when President Donald Trump stated he’d been instructed killings in Iran had been easing. U.S. allies, together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, performed intense diplomacy with Washington this week to forestall a U.S. strike, warning of repercussions for the broader area that might finally influence the USA, a Gulf official stated.
The White Home stated on Thursday (January 15, 2026) that Mr. Trump and his staff have warned Tehran there could be “grave penalties” if there may be additional bloodshed.
Mr. Trump understands that 800 scheduled executions had been halted, White Home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added, saying the president was preserving “all of his choices on the desk”.
The protests erupted on December 28 over hovering inflation in Iran, whose financial system has been crippled by sanctions, earlier than spiralling into one of many largest challenges but to the clerical institution that has run Iran because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Axios reported that the director of Israel’s Mossad spy company, David Barnea, arrived within the U.S. on Friday (January 16, 2026) for talks on the state of affairs in Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The information outlet additionally cited U.S. sources as saying the U.S. army is sending further defensive and offensive capabilities to the area to be prepared in case Trump orders a strike.
The U.S. army’s Central Command didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark.
Evaluation | Why Saudi Arabia opposed U.S. strike on Iran
Rights group reviews heavy safety deployment
With data flows from Iran obstructed by an web blackout, a number of residents of Tehran stated the capital had been quiet since Sunday (January 11, 2026). They stated drones had been flying over town, the place they’d seen no signal of protests on Thursday or Friday.
Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw stated that there had been no protest gatherings since Sunday (January 11, 2026), however “the safety atmosphere stays extremely restrictive”.
“Our impartial sources verify a heavy army and safety presence in cities and cities the place protests beforehand passed off, as nicely as in a number of areas that didn’t expertise main demonstrations,” Norway-based Hengaw stated in feedback to Reuters.
One other resident in a northern metropolis on the Caspian Sea stated the streets additionally appeared calm.
The residents declined to be recognized for his or her security.
Studies of sporadic unrest
There have been, nonetheless, indications of unrest in some areas.
Hengaw reported {that a} feminine nurse was killed by direct gunfire from authorities forces throughout protests in Karaj, west of Iran. Reuters was not capable of independently confirm the report.
The state-affiliated Tasnim information outlet reported that rioters set fireplace to an area training workplace in Falavarjan County, in central Isfahan Province, on Thursday (January 15, 2026).
An aged resident of a city in Iran’s northwestern area, the place many Kurdish Iranians stay and which has been the main target for most of the largest flare-ups, stated sporadic protests had continued, although not as intensely.
Describing violence earlier within the protests, she stated: “I’ve not seen scenes like that earlier than.”
The state-owned Press TV cited Iran’s police chief as saying calm had been restored throughout the nation.
A demise toll reported by U.S.-based rights group HRANA has elevated little since Wednesday, at present at 2,677 folks, together with 2,478 protesters and 163 folks recognized as affiliated with the federal government.
Reuters has not been capable of independently confirm the HRANA demise toll. An Iranian official instructed the information company earlier this week that about 2,000 folks had been killed.
The casualty numbers dwarf the demise toll from earlier bouts of unrest which were suppressed by the state.
Putin calls Netanyahu, Pezeshkian
Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the state of affairs in Iran in separate calls on Friday (January 16, 2026) with Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and stated that Moscow was keen to mediate within the area, the Kremlin stated.
Mr. Pezeshkian instructed Mr. Putin that the USA and Israel had performed a direct position within the unrest, Iranian state media reported.
Iranian authorities have accused international enemies of fomenting protests and armed folks they’ve recognized as terrorists of concentrating on safety forces and finishing up assaults.
HRANA has reported that greater than 19,000 folks have been arrested, however the state-affiliated Tasnim information outlet stated 3,000 folks had been detained.
Tasnim additionally reported what it described because the arrest of numerous leaders of current riots within the western province of Kermanshah, and the arrest of 5 folks accused of vandalising a fuel station and a base belonging to the Basij – a department of the safety forces usually used to quell unrest – within the southeastern metropolis of Kerman.
Printed – January 16, 2026 07:29 pm IST
