Tehran, Jan 24, (dpa/GNA) – The leadership in Iran remained defiant on Friday, as it faced down threats from US President Donald Trump and claimed to have shut down a foreign conspiracy on its soil.
The intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) accused the United States and Israel of aiming to fragment Iran’s geographical unity.
It said it has arrested or summoned 735 people, while shutting down foreign intelligence networks, according to the statement distributed by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
Both countries are said to have set up a command room in Iran to pursue their plan in a continuation of the 12-day war, that Israel and the US waged against Iran in June 2025.
No evidence of the alleged plot was presented.
Trump said on Thursday that a “massive fleet” was on its way to waters near the Middle Eastern country.
The commander of the IRGC, Major General Mohammad Pakpour responded by saying that the Iranian armed forces had their “finger on the trigger.”
Israel and the US hit many targets from the air, including nuclear facilities and military and civilian installations across large parts of Iran in June 2025. Since then, there has been regular speculation about a new military escalation.
Meanwhile, the leadership in Tehran also portrayed the recent mass protests in Iran, which have left thousands dead, as a foreign conspiracy.
The news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) said it has verified 5,002 deaths so far, including 4,714 protesters, 207 state security forces, 42 minors and 39 bystanders. A further 9,787 deaths are being investigated.
In addition, around 26,800 people have been arrested, according to the report by the US-based activist network.
The government says 3,117 people were killed in what it called riots.
The protests broke out at the end of December. Triggered by the country’s severe economic crisis, traders were the first to take to the streets. On January 8 and 9, mass protests broke out in the major cities and were brutally suppressed.
State media have reported numerous arrests in several parts of the country in recent days. The judiciary said previously that it would take harsh action against “troublemakers.”
Never before in the history of the Islamic Republic, which was established in 1979, have so many demonstrators been killed during protests.
The protests appear to have significantly reduced in the past week.
Iran denies Trump’s claim that 800 executions stopped
The Iranian judiciary has also denied statements by Trump suggesting that Tehran halted the execution of 800 demonstrators under the threat of military force.
This claim is “completely false,” state radio quoted Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad as saying on Friday.
During the wave of protests, he repeatedly assured the demonstrators of his support and drew red lines for the leadership in Tehran – so far without consequences.
Internet in some parts of Iran working again
Many users were gradually able to communicate online with the world again on Friday after a two-week internet shutdown in Iran.
According to data from the IT company Cloudflare, nationwide data traffic when accessing websites has now reached around 30% of the usual level from before the blockade.
With so-called tunnelling services, or virtual private networks (VPNs), some residents of the capital Tehran also managed to send WhatsApp messages again.
“As of Friday morning, the wider availability of messaging apps is confirmed and more VPN tunnels are connecting from Iran,” the organization NetBlocks, which specializes in internet shutdowns, wrote on X.
However, the network is heavily censored and the observable international connectivity remains low.
The state officially justified the shutdown with security concerns.
More than 400,000 companies are threatened in their existence, Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Gholamhossein Shafei told the online portal Asre-Eghtesad.
If the internet shutdown continues, the livelihood of around 9 million employees is at stake, Shafei said.
Iranian media also criticized the blockade. “Journalistic work without the internet is like swimming with your hands tied,” said Mehdi Rahmanian, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Shargh.
Amnesty International sharply criticized both the “unprecedented” state repression and the ongoing internet blackout in the country.
“Through the ongoing internet shutdown, the authorities are deliberately isolating over 90 million people from the rest of the world to conceal their crimes and evade accountability,” Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director for the Middle East, said on Friday.
UN Human Rights Council resolution calls for investigation
An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Friday evening to allow the commission it established in 2022 to investigate the recent violence.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for an end to state violence against protesters and the release of all detainees.
Without mentioning threats against Iran made by Trump, Türk warned about a military escalation: “Aggressive rhetoric and threats are deeply counterproductive.”
“Accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by military force coming from inside or outside Iran,” Türk said.
The US Department of the Treasury said in a statement on Friday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “is targeting nine shadow fleet vessels and their respective owners or management firms that have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products to foreign markets.”
The US believes that they finance terrorism. Washington aims to prevent oil sales with the sanctions and financially weaken Iran’s leadership.
GNA