Iranian state television acknowledged Tuesday that the Islamic Republic has lost “a lot of martyrs” in ongoing anti-government protests sweeping the country, a report said. 

The development comes as at least 2,000 people have been killed in the demonstrations, according to an activist group. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced that 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be even higher. 

A news anchor on Iranian state TV read a statement claiming “armed and terrorist groups” led the country “to present a lot of martyrs to God,” The Associated Press reported. Iranian state TV said officials will hold a funeral Wednesday for the “martyrs and security defenders” who have died in the protests.

Iran’s regime has been trying to crack down on the protests, which began in late December with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial. The unrest soon spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces.

US OPENS NEW AIR DEFENSE OPERATIONS CELL AT QATAR BASE THAT IRAN TARGETED IN RETALIATORY ATTACK

“The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday. 

The U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran issued a warning earlier today telling American citizens who are still in the country to leave immediately.   

President Donald Trump later urged the people of Iran to “take over” the country’s institutions, saying he has canceled all meetings with the Iranian regime until its crackdown on unrest ends.

IRAN’S ‘DISTINCTIVE’ DRONE DEPLOYMENT SEES DEATH TOLL SOAR AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS

Trump made the announcement on social media, vowing that those responsible for killing anti-regime demonstrators will “pay a big price.” Iran had previously claimed it was in contact with U.S. officials amid the protests. 

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”

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“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Efrat Lachter and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Over the course of 2025, US President Donald Trump was consistently vocal about his desire to bag the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have ended eight wars since returning to office — an assertion which has been contested by war experts.

Fast-forward to 2026, and the frenzy around the topical matter has already resurfaced, after Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Machado said she wanted to “share” her award with Trump following the US’s capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.

“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him [Trump] that the Venezuelan people […] want to give it [the Nobel Peace Prize] to him and share it with him”, Machado — who was awarded the prize for promoting the democratic rights of Venezuelans — told Fox News on 5 January.

Trump initially said it would be “very tough” for Machado to play a role in Venezuela’s future government due to a lack of “support or the respect within the country”, instead supporting acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.

However, Trump began to change his tune after Machado offered to share the Nobel Peace Prize, qualifying her willingness to share the prize as a “great honour”.

What are the facts?

In reality, only the Nobel Prize Committee can decide if a prize is shared, and this can be for up to a maximum of three individuals. Meanwhile, the peace prize specifically can also be given to organisations, as well as individuals.

On 9 January, the Nobel Prize Committee issued a statement honing in on the facts: once a Nobel Prize is announced, the decision is final. After this point, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred.

Ahead of Machado’s trip to the US to meet with Trump on Thursday, journalists asked Trump whether her role in a future Venezuelan government could be influenced by the offer to share the Nobel Peace Prize. In response, Trump indicated that it could be.

In theory, nothing is barring Trump from being nominated and potentially receiving the prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, typically made up of five members appointed by Norway’s parliament, shortlists nominations and consults experts before awarding the peace prize.

Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel said in his will that it should go to the person who has done the most for “fraternity between nations” and the abolition of standing armies.

Trump has received nominations in the past, and other US presidents have won it before.

Most recently, Barack Obama received it in 2009 “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” — a decision Trump has repeatedly criticised.

“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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Tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of goods from those countries. Iran, a member of the OPEC oil producing group, has been heavily sanctioned by Washington for years. It exports much of its oil to China, with Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and India among its other top trading partners.

“This Order is final and conclusive,” Trump said without providing any further detail.

There was no official documentation from the White House of the policy on its website, nor information about the legal authority Trump would use to impose the tariffs, or whether they would be aimed at all of Iran’s trading partners. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Chinese embassy in Washington criticized Trump’s approach, saying China will take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its interests and opposed “any illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction.”

“China’s position against the indiscriminate imposition of tariffs is consistent and clear. Tariff wars and trade wars have no winners, and coercion and pressure cannot solve problems,” a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Washington said on X.

Japan and South Korea, which agreed on trade deals with the U.S. last year, said on Tuesday they are closely monitoring the development.

“We … plan to take any necessary measures once the specific actions of the U.S. government become clear,” South Korea’s trade ministry said in a statement.

Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki told reporters that Tokyo will “carefully examine the specific content of any measures as they become clear, as well as their potential impact on Japan, and will respond appropriately.”

Tehran said on Monday it was keeping communication channels with Washington open as Trump considered how to respond to the situation in Iran, which has posed one of the gravest tests of clerical rule in the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Demonstrations evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment. U.S.-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 599 people – 510 protesters and 89 security personnel – since the protests began on December 28.

While air strikes were one of many alternatives open to Trump, “diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.

During the course of his second term in office, Trump has often threatened and imposed tariffs on other countries over their ties with U.S. adversaries and over trade policies that he has described as unfair to Washington.

Trump’s trade policy is under legal pressure as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering striking down a broad swathe of Trump’s existing tariffs.

Iran exported products to 147 trading partners in 2022, according to World Bank’s most recent data.

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