UN urges Iran to prevent further bloodshed amid protests

Briefing reporters in New York on Monday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary General António Guterres was “deeply saddened by the reported loss of life and injuries” resulting from clashes between security forces and demonstrators.

According to media reports and videos circulating online, demonstrations have continued in Tehran and the city of Yasuj, following protests last week across the majority of Iran’s provinces, as cited by human rights activists.

Rights groups report that at least 20 people have been killed, including three children, while hundreds of individuals, among them minors, have been detained during a security crackdown.

The situation has also drawn international reaction. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington would come to the “rescue” of protesters if Iranian authorities continued to authorise lethal force, adding in a social media post that the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Responding to questions at the regular UN briefing, Mr. Dujarric said UN chief António Guterres stressed the need to avoid any further casualties. “He also calls on the authorities to uphold the right of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. All individuals must be allowed to protest peacefully and express their grievances,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, had written to the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council, calling on them to condemn what he described as “unlawful threats” against Tehran by United States President Donald Trump amid ongoing protests in the country.