Activists Put Death Toll in Iran's Protests at Over 500

The government's crackdown on protests in Iran has killed at least 538 people, and even more are feared dead, activists said Sunday. At least another 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran in recent years, the AP reports. The organization relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said of those killed, 490 were protesters and 48 were members of security forces. The Iranian government has not provided overall casualty figures for the demonstrations.

• On Sunday: Protesters poured into the streets of Iran's two largest cities again in the morning. 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. In Mashhad, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Protests also appeared to take place in Kerman.
• The government: State television on Sunday morning had correspondents appear on the streets in several cities to show calm areas, with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. Government rhetoric ratcheted up. Ali Larijani, a top security official, accused some demonstrators of "killing people or burning some people, which is very similar to what ISIS does." State TV aired funerals of slain security force members. Even reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had been trying to ease anger before the demonstrations exploded in recent days, offered a hardening tone in an interview aired Sunday. "People have concerns, we should sit with them and if it is our duty, we should resolve their concerns," Pezeshkian said. "But the higher duty is not to allow a group of rioters to come and destroy the entire society." President Trump has threatened to intervene, and advisers have presented him with options that include strikes; lawmakers in parliament on Sunday shouted "Death to America!"

• The strategy: "The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived, and fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure," the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. "Reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements by security forces around protest locations, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control."
• Elsewhere: "The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Demonstrations were held in several international capitals in support of the protesters. "I live here, but all my family and friends live in Iran," said a protester in The Hague on Saturday, per Euronews. "They have absolutely no freedom; they can't say anything, they have no freedom, no freedom of expression. And they have no money, inflation is incredibly high." A demonstrator in Berlin said the protests seem different from those in the past: "I think people are at the end of their tether this time."