Iran Warns Protesters Who Joined ‘Riots’ to Surrender

Iranians drive near an anti-US mural in street in Tehran, Iran, 19 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians drive near an anti-US mural in street in Tehran, Iran, 19 January 2026. (EPA)
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Iran Warns Protesters Who Joined ‘Riots’ to Surrender

Iranians drive near an anti-US mural in street in Tehran, Iran, 19 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians drive near an anti-US mural in street in Tehran, Iran, 19 January 2026. (EPA)

Iran's top police officer issued an ultimatum on Monday to protesters who joined what authorities have deemed "riots", saying they must hand themselves in within three days or face the full force of the law.

But the government also pledged to tackle economic hardships that sparked the demonstrations, which were met with a crackdown that rights groups say has left thousands dead.

The protests constituted the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, with the full scale of the violence yet to emerge amid an internet blackout.

National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan on Monday urged young people "deceived" into joining the "riots" to turn themselves in and receive lighter punishment.

Those "who became unwittingly involved in the riots are considered to be deceived individuals, not enemy soldiers", and "will be treated with leniency", he told state television.

Officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before descending into chaos fueled by Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel in an effort to destabilize the nation.

The heads of the country's executive, legislative and judicial branches on Monday all pledged to work "around the clock" in "resolving livelihood and economic problems", according to a joint statement published by state television.

But they would also "decisively punish" the instigators of "terrorist incidents", said the statement from President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.

Alarm has grown over the possibility that authorities will use capital punishment against protesters.

The United Nations on Monday warned the country was using executions as "a tool of state intimidation".

Iran -- the world's most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups -- reportedly executed 1,500 people last year, UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

Security officials cited by Iran's Tasnim news agency said late last week that around 3,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, but rights groups say the number could be as high as 20,000.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that authorities "must break the back of the seditionists".

The scale of the crackdown has emerged piecemeal as Iran remains under an unprecedented internet shutdown that is now in its 11th day.

Despite difficulty accessing information, the Iran Human Rights NGO says it has verified that 3,428 protesters were killed by security forces, warning the actual toll could be far higher.

Internet access would "gradually" return to normal this week, Hossein Afshin, Iran's vice president for science, technology and the knowledge economy, said Monday on state television, after limited access briefly returned the day before.

Images from the capital Tehran showed buildings and billboards destroyed during the rallies.

In Iran's second-largest city of Masshad, damage to public infrastructure exceeded $15 million, Mayor Mohammadreza Qalandar Sharif told state television.



Man Accused of Plot to Kill Trump Says Iran Pressured Him

FILE - This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)
FILE - This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)
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Man Accused of Plot to Kill Trump Says Iran Pressured Him

FILE - This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)
FILE - This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)

A Pakistani man accused of plotting to kill US politicians including President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was pressured by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to devise the murder-for-hire scheme, according to US media.

Asif Raza Merchant, 47, was charged in September 2024 with seeking to hire a hitman to assassinate unidentified US politicians. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Revolutionary Guards have previously sought to kill top US officials, such as Trump following the 2020 killing of one of their commanders, Qasem Soleimani, by the United States.

During his trial Wednesday, Merchant testified that he was forced into the plot to protect his family in the Iranian capital Tehran from the Guards, adding that he thought he would get caught before anyone was killed, multiple media outlets reported.

He said he was never ordered to kill a specific person but noted his Iranian contact had mentioned three people in connection with the plot: Trump, former president Joe Biden and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

"My family was under threat, and I had to do this," Merchant told the court through an Urdu interpreter, according to the Washington Post.

"I was not wanting to do this so willingly."

Merchant's trial comes as the US and Israel carry out attacks on Iran, which have killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

US officials previously said Merchant had "close ties to Iran" and described his alleged plot as "straight out of the Iranian regime's playbook."

Merchant said this week he began working with a member of the Guards about 2022, when the man asked him if he was "interested in doing some work with the Iranian government," the New York Times reported.

He was eventually instructed to orchestrate a plot that involved arranging protests, stealing documents, laundering money and potentially having someone killed.

The Times reported that Merchant said he had been worried about what would happen to his wife and adopted daughter in Iran, so he agreed to the operation.

He was arrested after reportedly trying to hire hitmen that turned out to be undercover FBI agents.


Syrian Man Handed 13-year Sentence for Berlin Holocaust Memorial Stabbing

(FILES) Members of the emergency services use a crane as they work at the scene where a person was stabbed near the memorial of the murdered jews of Europe in Berlin on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
(FILES) Members of the emergency services use a crane as they work at the scene where a person was stabbed near the memorial of the murdered jews of Europe in Berlin on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
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Syrian Man Handed 13-year Sentence for Berlin Holocaust Memorial Stabbing

(FILES) Members of the emergency services use a crane as they work at the scene where a person was stabbed near the memorial of the murdered jews of Europe in Berlin on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
(FILES) Members of the emergency services use a crane as they work at the scene where a person was stabbed near the memorial of the murdered jews of Europe in Berlin on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

A Syrian refugee who stabbed a tourist at Berlin's Holocaust memorial last year has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of attempted murder, among others, said a Berlin court spokesperson on Thursday.

The now 20-year-old ⁠ISIS supporter ⁠used a knife to stab a 30-year-old Spanish tourist in the neck at the memorial in the heart of ⁠the German capital.

He inflicted life-threatening injuries that required the man to undergo emergency surgery and be placed in an induced coma.

Prosecutors said at the time that the Syrian national appeared to have been planning to ⁠kill ⁠Jews for several weeks, apparently motivated by the Middle Eastern conflict, which is why he chose the location.

The memorial commemorates the murder of 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler's Nazis during World War Two.


UK Says Ties with Cyprus Strong as Iran Threat Grows

FILED - 22 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: UK Defense Secretary John Healey listens to questions  during a press conference at Strategic Command Headquarters, in Northwood, Greater London. Photo: Thomas Krych/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 22 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: UK Defense Secretary John Healey listens to questions during a press conference at Strategic Command Headquarters, in Northwood, Greater London. Photo: Thomas Krych/PA Wire/dpa
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UK Says Ties with Cyprus Strong as Iran Threat Grows

FILED - 22 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: UK Defense Secretary John Healey listens to questions  during a press conference at Strategic Command Headquarters, in Northwood, Greater London. Photo: Thomas Krych/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 22 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: UK Defense Secretary John Healey listens to questions during a press conference at Strategic Command Headquarters, in Northwood, Greater London. Photo: Thomas Krych/PA Wire/dpa

British defense minister John Healey said on Thursday that the friendship ‌between ‌his country and ‌Cyprus ⁠remained strong in the ⁠face of Iranian threats.

Healey said in ⁠a post ‌on X ‌that he ‌met ‌with his Cypriot counterpart, Vasilis Palmas, earlier ‌on Thursday and discussed how ⁠Britain ⁠was further reinforcing air defenses to support their shared security.

Healey has headed to Cyprus on Thursday after a drone strike on a UK air base on the Mediterranean island.

The visit comes after the runway of the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Akrotiri came under attack by an Iranian-made unmanned drone on Monday.

Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said Tuesday the UK was sending "helicopters with counter drone capabilities" and a warship, HMS Dragon, to Cyprus as Britain continued "defensive operations" in the region.