Trump-Iran latest: President threatens ‘very strong action’ if protesters are hanged after forced confessions – UK Times

President Donald Trump was consulting with his national security team on Tuesday about possible next steps to take on Iran, as he looked to get a better understanding of the number of Iranian citizens who have been killed and arrested in more than two weeks of unrest throughout the country.

Trump said he believes that the killing is “significant” and that his administration would “act accordingly.” He added that he believed the Iranian government was “badly misbehaving”.

But the president said he has yet to receive a confirmed number of Iranians killed in the protests that began late last month, saying he has heard “five different sets of numbers” about the death toll.

Since the protests began on 28 December, 16,700 people have been arrested and more than 2,500 have been killed, the vast majority protesters, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. The organisation is based in the US and relies on a network of activists inside Iran to confirm reported fatalities.

“The message is they’ve got to show humanity,” Trump said of the Iranian government. “They’ve got a big problem. And I hope they’re not going to be killing people.”

Activists have raised alarm over a surge in executions connected to the latest protests, as Iranian state media aired at least 97 confessions from protesters, many expressing remorse for their actions since the protest began on 28 December.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says that based on testimony from prior detainees, the confessions often come after psychological or physical torture – and can have serious consequences, including the death penalty.

“These rights violations compound on top of each other and lead to horrible outcomes. This is a pattern that’s been implemented by the regime time and time again,” said Skylar Thompson, the group’s deputy director.

Thompson said she is “gravely concerned” over a surge in executions connected to the latest protests, adding that many of the video confessions are serious security-related offences that carry the death penalty.

By comparison, from 2010 to 2020, there were around 350 forced confessions broadcast on state media, according to the activist groups Justice for Iran and the International Federation for Human Rights, the last major study compiled by activists.

The rights group Together Against the Death Penalty said there were 40 to 60 confessions aired in 2025.

In 2024, Iran executed 975 people, the highest number since 2015, according to a report by the United Nations. Four of the executions were carried out publicly. Iran carries out executions by hanging.

According to the UN report, most people in Iran are executed for drug-related offences or murder.

In 2024, security-related offences, such as espionage, accounted for just three per cent of the executions.

Tehran is known to have executed 12 people for espionage since the 12-day war in June between Israel and Iran.

The most recent execution for espionage was last week, when Iran said it executed a man who was accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad spy agency in exchange for cryptocurrency. The state-run IRNA news agency said the man confessed to the spying charges.

They are shown handcuffed, their faces blurred. The confession videos, broadcast on Iranian state media, feature dramatic background music interspersed with clips appearing to show protesters attacking security forces.

Some showcase gruesome homemade weapons that authorities claim were used in the attacks. Others highlight suspects in grainy security footage, appearing to set fires or destroy property.

Iran alleges these confessions, which often include references to Israel or America, are proof of foreign plots behind Iran’s nationwide protests.

28 December: Protests break out in two major markets in downtown Tehran, after the Iranian rial plunged to a new record low.

29 December: The central bank head resigns as the protests spread and police fire tear gas at protesters.

30 December: President Masoud Pezeshkian vows to work with business leaders to hear their demands as university campuses join protests.

31 December: Protests in Fasa allegedly turn violent after crowds break into the governor’s office.

1 January: The protests’ first fatalities are officially reported, with authorities saying at least seven people have been killed.

2 January: Trump threatens Iran if it kills peaceful protesters.

3 January: Khamenei greenlights security forces to crack down on dissent. Protests reach 170 locations with 15 dead.

8 January: The government blocks the internet after Reza Pahlavi calls on citizens to act.

9 January: Iran ramps up threats of punishment with 65 reported killed and 2,300 detained.

11 January: Iran’s parliament speaker threatens to strike US military bases in the region if Trump attacks, as rights groups say 538 people have now been killed. HRANA reports arrests have surpassed 10,000.

12 January: Trump announces 25 per cent tariffs on any country doing business with Iran. The ISW reports protests have thinned significantly since their peak on 8 January, likely due to the internet blackouts.

13 January: HRANA reports more than 2,000 verified deaths as Donald Trump tells protesters that help is “on the way”. Russia backs Iran, denouncing “subversive external interference” and saying Trump’s threat of strikes is “categorically unacceptable”.

Donald Trump on Tuesday told Iranians to keep protesting and said help was on the way, without giving details.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He added that he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the “senseless killing” of protesters stopped.

As concern mounts that the blackout is concealing atrocities against protesters, there have been growing calls for the US to assist in restoring connectivity in Iran.

Donald Trump on Sunday promised he would speak to Musk about using his Starlink service to restore internet across the country.

The Independent’s Alex Croft looks at how Iran is ‘jamming’ Starlink satellites to stop the horrors of the protest crackdown from getting out:

Iran ‌accused US president Donald Trump on Tuesday of encouraging ‌political destabilisation, inciting violence, and threatening the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, ‌and ​national ​security, Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid ‍Iravani wrote to ‍the ​US Security Council.

“The ‍United States and the Israeli regime ‍bear direct and undeniable ⁠legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth, he wrote in the letter, which was also sent to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

He wrote the letter in response to a social media post by Trump earlier on Tuesday.

28 December: Protests break out in two major markets in downtown Tehran, after the Iranian rial plunged to a new record low.

29 December: The central bank head resigns as the protests spread and police fire tear gas at protesters.

30 December: President Masoud Pezeshkian vows to work with business leaders to hear their demands as university campuses join protests.

31 December: Protests in Fasa allegedly turn violent after crowds break into the governor’s office.

1 January: The protests’ first fatalities are officially reported, with authorities saying at least seven people have been killed.

2 January: Trump threatens Iran if it kills peaceful protesters.

3 January: Khamenei greenlights security forces to crack down on dissent. Protests reach 170 locations with 15 dead.

8 January: The government blocks the internet after Reza Pahlavi calls on citizens to act.

9 January: Iran ramps up threats of punishment with 65 reported killed and 2,300 detained.

11 January: Iran’s parliament speaker threatens to strike US military bases in the region if Trump attacks, as rights groups say 538 people have now been killed. HRANA reports arrests have surpassed 10,000.

12 January: Trump announces 25 per cent tariffs on any country doing business with Iran. The ISW reports protests have thinned significantly since their peak on 8 January, likely due to the internet blackouts.

13 January: HRANA reports more than 2,000 verified deaths as Donald Trump tells protesters that help is “on the way”. Russia backs Iran, denouncing “subversive external interference” and saying Trump’s threat of strikes is “categorically unacceptable”.