Mass protests with numerous victims continue in Iran. What the media is writing
Anti-government protests continue in Iran, which have led to massive casualties over the past two weeks. US President Donald Trump has promised to provide assistance to the protesters, while the country has earned free access to Starlink Internet terminals. What the world's media write about the latest events in Iran is in the Izvestia digest.
Reuters: Trump urges Iranians to continue protests
US President Donald Trump called on Iranians to continue their protests and remember the names of those who persecute them, saying that "help is on the way." He said he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the "senseless killing" of protesters stopped. In turn, Iran accused Trump of encouraging political destabilization and inciting violence.
Reuters
"Iranian patriots, keep protesting, seize your institutions! Help is on the way," Trump wrote in a message on Truth Social, without specifying exactly what this assistance is.
When asked what he meant by the phrase "help is on the way," Trump told reporters that they would have to find out. The US president said that military action is among the options he is considering to punish Iran for its repression. The US State Department has called on American citizens to leave Iran immediately, including by land through Turkey or Armenia.
The Washington Post: Trump's advisers meet to prepare strike options
The White House on Tuesday called a meeting of senior officials to discuss options for military action against Iran. Some political allies warn of the dangers of being drawn into a new foreign conflict and the internal costs of abandoning the "America First" foreign policy that Trump advocated during his election campaign.
The Washington Post
Arguments against a strike include the risk of an accident or failure as the U.S. military and intelligence services attempt to conduct riskier operations, as well as the possibility that the fall of the Iranian government could lead to the establishment of a more belligerent regime or the creation of another failed state in the Middle East, according to former officials and people close to the The White House.
Skeptics who doubt the expediency of the strike hope to avoid the open hostility that led to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities in June and intensified the split in Trump's electorate over the expediency of intervening in the Middle East conflict. Despite his public statements, Trump sounds less confident in private conversations, according to people close to the White House. Some described him as less enthusiastic than before the strikes in June. Another called it a "coin flip."
Associated Press: Iran signals accelerated trials and executions of protesters
The head of Iran's judicial system, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, has made it clear that accelerated trials and executions will be carried out in the future for those detained during nationwide protests. He made the statement in a video posted by the Iranian state television on the Internet.
Associated Press
"If we want to get the job done, we have to do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly," he said. — If it drags on for two or three months, the effect will be different. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly."
Mohseni-Ejei's comments are a direct challenge to Trump, who has issued a warning to Iran about possible executions. According to Iranian human rights activists, at least 2,571 people died as a result of the suppression of the protests. On January 14, Iran is preparing for the mass funeral of 100 members of the security forces who died during the demonstrations.
The New York Times: Starlink users in Iran get free internet access
According to the American organization Holistic Resilience, which helps Iranians access the Internet, users of the Starlink satellite Internet service from Elon Musk can use its services for free. The organization's executive director, Ahmad Ahmadian, said that Iranians had informed him that they did not need to pay Starlink for Internet access amid a near-total blackout in the country due to mass protests.
The New York Times
The Starlink service created by Musk is often the only way to access the Internet in conflict zones, remote areas and places affected by natural disasters. It uses thousands of satellites that communicate with ground terminals to transmit high-speed Internet.
Musk's ability to turn Starlink on and off in certain locations, as well as his dominance in space thanks to satellites and rockets, have made him a formidable and unpredictable geopolitical player. The Iranian authorities had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Starlink. When anti-government protests broke out in the country in 2022, Musk provided access to Starlink to help activists stay online. The Iranian government has accused his company SpaceX of violating its sovereignty.
Politico: Details of exiled prince's plan for regime change in Iran
Reza Pahlavi studied in the United States in 1979, when his father, the last Shah of Iran, was overthrown in a revolution. Since then, he has not set foot on Iranian soil, although his monarchist supporters have never stopped believing that one day their "crown prince" would return. Pahlavi's name is on the lips of many protesters, who chant that they want the return of the "Shah." Even his critics — and there are many of them who oppose the return of the monarchy — now recognize that Pahlavi may be the only figure with the necessary authority to implement the transition period.
Politico
Last week, as the protests gained momentum, Pahlavi stepped up his social media activities, posting posts and videos that have gained millions of views, urging people to take to the streets. He began by calling for demonstrations to begin at 20:00 local time, and then called on the protesters to start occupying city centers earlier and longer. His supporters claim that these calls help guide the protest movement.
Pahlavi's proposal to those who switch sides to the opposition is that they will be granted amnesty after the fall of the regime. He argues that most of the people currently working in the government and the army need to remain in their positions in order to ensure stability after the departure of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and avoid weakening the administration and creating a vacuum, as happened after the US—led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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