\n<\/p>\n
The sustained nationwide protests that have gripped Iran since late December have divided global opinion, with some governments raising concern about what they fear are foreign, instigated riots, while others have accused Iran\u2019s leaders of responding violently to those protesting.<\/p>\n
Several senior Iranian figures have acknowledged the grievances of the demonstrators but have attempted to distinguish between people motivated by economic duress and rising costs, and what they have described as rioters seeking to \u201csow discord\u201d, as Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated.<\/p>\n
list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/p>\n Araghchi has said Iran is not seeking war but told Al Jazeera that Tehran was \u201cprepared for all options\u201d.<\/p>\n The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.<\/p>\n Authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have been killed, but opposition activists based outside the country said the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera cannot independently verify either figure.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at how countries and key global organisations are reacting.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump has warned Iran\u2019s leaders against using lethal force against demonstrators and has repeatedly said the US is considering military action.<\/p>\n \u201cThe military is looking at it, and we\u2019re looking at some very strong options. We\u2019ll make a determination,\u201d he told reporters on board Air Force One late on Sunday.<\/p>\n Last week, in a post on Truth Social, Trump\u2019s social media site, he said: \u201cIran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s most hostile regional foe, Israel, has strongly backed the demonstrators, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commending the \u201ctremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran\u201d during a cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n The Israeli army has separately said the protests are internal but that the army is \u201cequipped to respond with power if need be\u201d.<\/p>\n A minister also refused to rule out the possibility of backing military action, with Peter Kyle telling broadcaster Sky News, \u201cThere\u2019s lots of ifs\u201d.<\/p>\n The Conservative opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, told the BBC: \u201cGiven the threat that we\u2019re seeing to the people, I think that would be right.\u201d<\/p>\n The EU has said it stands \u201cready to propose new sanctions\u201d, adding to the range the 27-member bloc already has in place.<\/p>\n The UK, along with Germany and France, issued a joint statement last week saying they \u201cstrongly condemned\u201d the killing of protesters.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, predicted the last days of Iran\u2019s Islamic republic, telling reporters while on a trip in India that when \u201ca regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished\u201d.<\/p>\n Germany, which has close commercial and military ties with Israel, and has staunchly supported its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, previously described what it called Iran\u2019s violent response as a sign of \u201cweakness\u201d and not strength.<\/p>\n Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the Japanese government \u201cstrongly calls for the immediate cessation of violence and strongly hopes for an early settlement of the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n China\u2019s government has taken a line closer to Iran\u2019s, expressing its opposition to external \u201cinterference in other countries\u2019 internal affairs\u201d, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson adding that \u201cthe sovereignty and security of all nations should be fully protected by international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia\u2019s Security Council and former defence minister, speaking about the protests following a call with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran\u2019s National Security Council, \u201ccondemned\u201d what he said was \u201cthe latest attempt by foreign forces to interfere in Iran\u2019s internal affairs\u201d.<\/p>\n Turkiye\u2019s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who was previously the country\u2019s intelligence chief, said the protests were \u201cmanipulated by Iran\u2019s rivals from abroad\u201d, naming Israel\u2019s intelligence service as having a hand.<\/p>\n \u201cMossad doesn\u2019t hide it; they are calling on the Iranian people to revolt against the regime through their own internet and Twitter accounts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is \u201cshocked\u201d by reports of violence against protesters in Iran and called on the government to show restraint.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Iranians must be able to express their grievances peacefully and without fear,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sustained nationwide protests that have gripped Iran since late December have divided global opinion, with some governments raising concern about what they fear are foreign, instigated riots, while others have accused Iran\u2019s leaders of responding violently to those protesting. Several senior Iranian figures have acknowledged the grievances of the demonstrators but have attempted to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[84,744,150,494,4799,857,1755,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-41471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-military","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-protests","12":"tag-reacts","13":"tag-tehran","14":"tag-threats","15":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}United States<\/h3>\n
Israel<\/h3>\n
United Kingdom<\/h3>\n
European Union<\/h3>\n
Germany<\/h3>\n
Japan<\/h3>\n
China<\/h3>\n
Russia<\/h3>\n
Turkiye<\/h3>\n
United Nations<\/h3>\n