The report said it was unclear whether Barnea will meet with US President Donald Trump, who is expected to be at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The threat of military action by the US against Iran also appeared to recede for the time being, with a Saudi official saying Gulf allies had persuaded Trump to give the Iranian leadership a \u201cchance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel is reported<\/a> to have also asked Trump to delay any military action against Iran, as the Jewish state is expected to come under fire in retaliation for any major US action there.<\/p>\n Israeli officials believe, however, that the US may still strike in the coming days, according to Axios.<\/p>\n The news outlet also cited US sources as saying the US military was sending additional defensive and offensive capabilities to the region to be ready in case Trump orders a strike.<\/p>\n The US military\u2019s Central Command didn\u2019t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East and Iran by phone on Friday, the Kremlin said<\/p>\n Putin offered Russia\u2019s help in mediating with regard to Iran, and told the Israeli leader he was \u201cin favor of intensifying political and diplomatic efforts to ensure stability and security in the region,\u201d the Kremlin added.<\/p>\n Putin also spoke by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Kremlin stated. Putin will continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in the region, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n Pezeshkian\u2019s office said he thanked Putin for \u201cRussia\u2019s position,\u201d adding that \u201cthe role and direct involvement of the United States and the Zionist regime in recent events in Iran is evident.\u201d<\/p>\n Protests sparked by economic grievances started with a shutdown in the Tehran bazaar on December 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.<\/p>\n People started pouring into the streets in big cities from January 8, but authorities immediately enforced a shutdown of the internet that has lasted over a week, and which activists say is aimed at masking the scale of the crackdown.<\/p>\n The repression has \u201clikely suppressed the protest movement for now,\u201d said the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has monitored the protest activity.<\/p>\n But it added: \u201cThe regime\u2019s widespread mobilization of security forces is unsustainable\u2026 which makes it possible that protests could resume.\u201d<\/p>\n With information flows from Iran obstructed by the internet blackout, several residents of Tehran said the capital had been quiet since Sunday. They said drones were flying over the city, where they\u2019d seen no sign of protests on Thursday or Friday.<\/p>\n Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said that there had been no protest gatherings since Sunday, but \u201cthe security environment remains highly restrictive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur independent sources confirm a heavy military and security presence in cities and towns where protests previously took place, as well as in several locations that did not experience major demonstrations,\u201d Norway-based Hengaw said in comments to Reuters.<\/p>\n \t Another resident in a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets also appeared calm.<\/p>\n The residents declined to be identified for their safety.<\/p>\n There were, however, indications of unrest in some areas.<\/p>\n Hengaw reported that a female nurse was killed by direct gunfire from government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Iran. Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.<\/p>\n The state-affiliated Tasnim news outlet reported that rioters set fire to a local education office in Falavarjan County, in central Isfahan Province, on Thursday.<\/p>\n An elderly resident of a town in Iran\u2019s northwestern region, where many Kurdish Iranians live and which has been the focus for many of the biggest flare-ups, said sporadic protests had continued, though not as intensely.<\/p>\n Describing violence earlier in the protests, she said: \u201cI have not seen scenes like that before.\u201d<\/p>\n \t The state-owned Press TV cited Iran\u2019s police chief as saying calm had been restored across the country.<\/p>\n Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) says 3,428 protesters have been verified to have been killed by security forces, but warns this could be a fraction of the actual toll.<\/p>\n Its director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said authorities under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have \u201ccommitted one of the gravest crimes of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n He cited \u201chorrifying eyewitness accounts\u201d received by IHR of \u201cprotesters being shot dead while trying to flee, the use of military-grade weapons and the street execution of wounded protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n Lama Fakih, program director at Human Rights Watch, said the killings since last week \u201care unprecedented in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Monitor Netblocks said that the \u201ctotal internet blackout\u201d in Iran had now lasted over 180 hours, longer than a similar measure that was imposed during the 2019 protests.<\/p>\n Around 3,000 people were arrested, according to security officials cited by the country\u2019s Tasnim news agency.<\/p>\n The 3,000 people detained included \u201carmed individuals and rioters\u201d and \u201cmembers of terrorist organizations,\u201d according to Tasnim, which is considered close to security forces in Iran.<\/p>\n \t Rights groups have estimated that up to 20,000 people have been arrested.<\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that \u201cthe president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran is the most prolific user of capital punishment after China. But there has been no suggestion from Iranian authorities \u2014 or rights activists who have repeatedly condemned a recent surge in hangings before the protest wave \u2014 that so many people were due to be executed in a single day.<\/p>\n Attention had focused on the fate of a single protester, Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old who rights activists and Washington said was set to be executed as early as Wednesday.<\/p>\n The Iranian judiciary confirmed Soltani was under arrest but said he had not been sentenced to death and his charges meant he did not risk capital punishment.<\/p>\n \u2018All Iranians united\u2019<\/p>\n Asked about a New York Times report that Netanyahu had warned Trump against strikes, Leavitt said: \u201cIt\u2019s true that the president spoke with [him], but I would never give details about their conversation without\u2026 the express approval by the president himself.\u201d<\/p>\n The US Treasury also announced new sanctions targeting Iranian officials on Thursday, including Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme Council for National Security.<\/p>\n Despite the internet shutdown, new videos from the height of the protests, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013542063832-e1768339651778-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIn this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013303136402-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tThis frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran\u2019s capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/985102-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tSmoke rises as protesters gather amid evolving anti-government unrest at Vakilabad highway in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, January 10, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (SOCIAL MEDIA\/via REUTERS)<\/p>\n
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