Student activist reportedly arrested in Tehran
Footage showing security forces on the streets in the western city of Hamadan, which has been the scene of antigovernment protests.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has issued a statement on the continuing protests in Iran:
The Iranian people have been expressing their desire for dignified treatment, an end to corruption, improved transparency, and increased economic opportunities. Protestors have also demanded that the regime stop diverting the nation’s wealth to fund military adventurism abroad. Unfortunately, the government continues to imprison and kill those who are brave enough to venture into the street. It is limiting the flow of information into Iran, restricting free speech, and attempting to prevent the outside world from observing its own repression.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the deaths to date and the arrests of at least one thousand Iranians. We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protestors, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran. To the regime’s victims, we say: You will not be forgotten.
Voices From Iran
Reuters has interviewed several Iranian protesters.
Maryam Azemi, 48, a mother of two in the city of Karaj near Tehran:
"I voted for [former reformist President Mohammad] Khatami and Rohani, hoping for change. Hoping for freedom. Hoping to live like a normal human being. But nothing has changed. I don’t trust anyone anymore."
"We waited so long for change in this country. We tried peaceful ways to bring change, like voting, but look at us now. The officials are competing with each other to rip us off.”
Protester Reza, 43, a father of three in the central city of Esfahan:
"I don’t want to harm my country but when I see those who run this country are so corrupt, I feel like I am being suffocated. They just talk. They accuse 'the enemies' of everything. I am not an enemy. I am an Iranian. I love my country. Stop stealing my money, my children’s money.”
Iranian nationals rallying in the German city of Cologne in support of protesters in Iran.
Video footage purportedly showing people protesting in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, via the BBC.
Video footage purportedly showing people protesting in the city of Esfahan, in central Iran, on January 4.
A look at the slogans used by protesters in the past two days. Compiled by Farzan Sabet, managing editor at IranPolitik, a website on Iranian politics.