Anti-government protests have erupted in a wave of violence across Iran, posing the biggest challenge to the regime in years.
The protests began about two weeks ago over rampant inflation, but have since spread to more than 180 cities and towns across the country and turned into a general protest against the government.
An ongoing communications blackout, unprecedented in its scale, was imposed by authorities last week, leaving the country largely isolated from the outside world, experts said.
More than 2,400 protesters have been killed and at least 18,470 arrested since Iran began its crackdown on opposition, according to the US-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency. CNN cannot independently verify HRANA’s numbers.
US President Donald Trump said his administration was monitoring the deadly protests and declared in a message on Tuesday that “help is on the way” to protesters. On Wednesday, he refused to take military action off the table, telling reporters that Iran reportedly has “no plans for executions” but that his administration would wait and see.
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