At least 16 people have been killed during a week of unrest in Iran, rights groups said on Sunday, as protests over soaring inflation spread across the country, sparking violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces, Reuters reported.

Deaths and arrests have been reported through the week both by state media and rights groups, though the figures differ. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the numbers.

The protests are the biggest in three years. Senior figures have struck a softer tone than in some previous bouts of unrest, at a moment of vulnerability for the Islamic Republic with the economy in tatters and international pressure building.

President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Interior Ministry to take a “kind and responsible” approach toward protesters, according to remarks published by state media, saying “society cannot be convinced or calmed by forceful approaches”.

That language is the most conciliatory yet adopted by Iranian authorities, who have this week acknowledged economic pain and promised dialogue even as security forces cracked down on public dissent in the streets.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to come to the protesters’ aid if they face violence, saying on Friday “we are locked and loaded and ready to go”, without specifying what actions he was considering.

That warning prompted threats of retaliation against U.S. forces in the region from senior Iranian officials. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran “will not yield to the enemy”.

Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported that at least 17 people had been killed since the start of the protests. HRANA, a network of rights activists, said at least 16 people had been killed and 582 arrested.

Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan told state media that security forces had been targeting protest leaders for arrest over the previous two days, saying “a big number of leaders on the virtual space have been detained”.

Police said 40 people had been arrested in the capital Tehran alone over what they called “fake posts” on protests aimed at disturbing public opinion, read the report.

The most intense clashes have been reported in western parts of Iran but there have also been protests and clashes between demonstrators and police in Tehran, in central areas, and in the southern Baluchistan province.

Late on Saturday, the governor of Qom, the conservative centre of Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim clerical establishment, said two people had been killed there in unrest, adding that one of them had died when an explosive device he made blew up prematurely.

HRANA and the state-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that authorities had detained the administrator of online accounts urging protests.

Protests began a week ago among bazaar traders and shopkeepers before spreading to university students and then provincial cities, where some protesters have been chanting against Iran’s clerical rulers.

Iran has faced inflation above 36% since the start of its year in March and the rial currency has lost around half its value against the dollar, causing hardship for many people.

International sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme have been reimposed, the government has struggled to provide water and electricity across the country through the year, and global financial bodies predict a recession in 2026, Reuters reported.

Khamenei said on Saturday that although authorities would talk to protesters, “rioters should be put in their place”.

Speaking on Sunday, Vice President Mohammadreza Aref said the government acknowledged the country faced shortcomings while warning that some people were seeking to exploit the protests.

“We expect the youth not to fall into the trap of the enemies,” Aref said in comments carried by state media.

The supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly has an “escape plan” that involves fleeing to Russia if the current nationwide protests continue to intensify, British newspaper “The Times” reported on Sunday.

The plan, called “Plan B” by the British report, would include 86-year-old Khamenei and 20 close people, including family and aides.

It will also involve a way of taking his vast asset network, which, according to a 2013 Reuters investigation cited by The Times, is valued at about $95 billion, and includes the Setad organization, one of the most powerful organizations in Iran, and the Ayatollah’s system of semi-state charitable foundations known for their financial obfuscation.

“The ‘plan B’ is for Khamenei and his very close circle of associates and family, including his son and nominated heir apparent, Mojtaba,” The Times said, citing intelligence sources.

The report also mentioned that, according to former Israeli intelligence official Beni Sabti, Khamenei would leave for Russia as “there is no other place for him.”

Khamenei had previously assured that he “admires Putin, while the Iranian culture is more similar to the Russian culture,” the report noted.

The plan disclosed by The Times seems to be similar to the one used by former Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad, who escaped from Syria towards Moscow when the regime fell in November 2024.

Assad is now living in Russian luxury and “brushing up on ophthalmology,” The Guardian reported on December 19, citing sources close to the family.

A friend of the Assad family told The Guardian that “he is studying Russian and brushing up on his ophthalmology again. It’s a passion of his; he obviously doesn’t need the money,” suggesting his target clientele would be Moscow’s wealthy elite.

As protests continue to spread in Iran, the Trump Administration continues with its “maximum pressure” campaign over the Islamic Republic.

The message by US President Donald Trump about the possibility of dealing with the Iranian regime in a similar way to what he did on Saturday with former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro seemed to influence the protests.

On Sunday, the Farsi account of the US State Department published a picture of President Trump and the message: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know, now you know.”

Earlier on Sunday, the same post was made on the US State Department’s general account, featuring a picture of Trump alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump also told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One that “if they kill people, as they have done in the past, they will be hit hard by the United States.”

Several people were killed during unrest in Iran, Iranian media and rights groups said on Thursday, as the biggest protests to hit the Islamic Republic for three years over worsening economic conditions sparked violence in several provinces.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that three protesters were killed and 17 were injured during an attack on a police station in Iran’s western province of Lorestan, Reuters reported.

“The rioters entered the police headquarters around 1800 (local time) on Thursday … they clashed with police forces and set fire to several police cars,” Fars reported.

Earlier, Fars and rights group Hengaw reported deaths in Lordegan city in the country’s Charmahal and Bakhtiari province. Authorities confirmed one death in the western city of Kuhdasht, and Hengaw reported another death in the central province of Isfahan.

The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.

VIOLENCE REPORTED IN SEVERAL CITIES

Fars reported that two people had been killed in Lordegan in clashes between security services and what it called armed protesters. It earlier said several had died. Hengaw said several people had been killed and wounded there by security forces.

The Revolutionary Guards said one member of its affiliated Basij volunteer paramilitary unit had been killed in Kuhdasht and another 13 wounded, blaming demonstrators who it accused of taking advantage of the protests.

Hengaw said that the man, named by the Guards as Amirhossam Khodayari Fard, had been protesting and was killed by security forces.

Hengaw also reported that a protester was shot dead on Wednesday in Isfahan province in central Iran.

Reuters could not immediately verify any of those reports.

Protests also took place on Thursday in Marvdasht in the southern Fars province, the activist news site HRANA reported. Hengaw said demonstrators had been detained on Wednesday in the western provinces of Kermanshah, Khuzestan and Hamedan.

CRITICAL MOMENT FOR CLERICAL RULERS

Iran’s clerical rulers are grappling with Western sanctions that have battered an economy already reeling from more than 40% inflation, compounded by Israeli and U.S. airstrikes in June targeting the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure and military leadership.

Tehran has responded to the protests with an offer of dialogue alongside its security response.

Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Thursday that the authorities would hold a direct dialogue with representatives of trades unions and merchants, but without giving details.

The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which on Thursday accused those involved in the unrest in Kuhdasht of “taking advantage of the atmosphere of popular protests.”

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Merchants, shop owners and students in a number of Iranian universities have been demonstrating for days and closing major bazaars. The government shut down much of the country on Wednesday by declaring a holiday due to cold weather.

Authorities have in recent years quashed protests over issues ranging from high prices, droughts, women’s rights and political freedoms, often with tough security measures and extensive arrests.

Iran’s economy has been struggling for years, chiefly because of U.S. and Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program. Regional tensions led to a 12-day air war with Israel in June, further straining the country’s finances.

The Iranian rial lost around half its value against the dollar in 2025, with official inflation reaching 42.5% in December.