DUBAI – Demonstrators in Iran have continued their protests against the nation’s theocratic regime, taking to the streets of both the capital city and the country’s second-largest metropolis. These demonstrations have persisted into their third week, with activists reporting that the unrest has resulted in at least 116 fatalities.

Amidst a communications blackout, with internet services cut and phone lines down, monitoring the situation from outside Iran has become increasingly challenging. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported that, alongside the fatalities, approximately 2,600 individuals have been detained during the protests.

Observers outside Iran worry that the lack of communication might empower hard-line factions within the Iranian security forces to intensify their crackdown, despite cautions from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has expressed a willingness to take military action to safeguard peaceful protesters.

President Trump has voiced his support for the demonstrators through social media, declaring, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials, have reported that military options for a strike on Iran have been presented to Trump, though no definitive decision has been made.

Separately, the State Department issued a stark warning: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Protests in Tehran and Mashhad

Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran’s Punak neighborhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.

Other footage purportedly showed demonstrators peacefully marching down a street and others honking their car horns on the street.

In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, some 725 kilometers (450 miles) northeast of Tehran, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Flaming debris and dumpsters could be seen in the street, blocking the road. Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza shrine, the holiest in Shiite Islam, making the protests there carry heavy significance for the country’s theocracy.

Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Iranian state television on Sunday morning took a page from demonstrators, having their correspondents appear on streets in several cities to show calm areas with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. They also showed pro-government demonstrations in Qom and Qazvin.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

More demonstrations planned Sunday

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.