Protesters in Iran defied a deadly government crackdown on Saturday night, taking to the streets despite reports suggesting hundreds of people have been killed or wounded by security forces in the past three days. Verified videos and eyewitness accounts seen by the BBC appeared to show the government was ramping up its response, as it continues an internet blackout.The country’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, said on Saturday that anyone protesting would be considered an “enemy of God” – an offence that carries the death penalty. More than 2,500 people have been arrested since protests began on 28 December, according to a human rights group.The protests were sparked by soaring inflation, and have spread to more than 100 cities and towns across every province in Iran. Now protesters are calling for an end to the clerical rule of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei has dismissed demonstrators as a “bunch of vandals” seeking to “please” US President Donald Trump.Trump has threatened to hit Iran “very hard” if they “start killing people”.Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Sunday warned that if the US attacks Iran, Israel and all US military and shipping bases in the region will be legitimate targets for Iran to attack.As protests intensify, the number of deaths and injuries continues to rise. BBC sources and US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) have reported more than 100 people, including security personnel, killed.Staff at three hospitals told the BBC they have been overwhelmed with the injured and dead, with BBC Persian verifying 70 bodies brought to one hospital in Rasht city on Friday night and a health worker reporting around 38 people dying at a Tehran hospital.The BBC and most other international news organisations are unable to report from inside Iran, and the Iranian government h …
