Iran on Saturday expanded its crackdown on the country’s massive wave of anti-regime protests, and warned that anyone taking part would be considered an “enemy of God,” a charge that automatically invokes the death penalty.

The demonstrations, which began nearly two weeks ago as mere economic protests, reached fever pitch Saturday amid a two-day internet blackout, reaching hundreds of cities in all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

As the protests became more widespread, the Islamic Republic intensified its crackdown, reportedly opening fire on crowds with live ammunition, though reports from the ground indicated that protesters successfully took over several city centers and set government buildings ablaze.

On Saturday afternoon, the country’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warned that protesters, or anyone who “helped” them, would be branded an “enemy of God,” and face capital punishment.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement carried by Iranian state television read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion, or indulgence.”

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 72 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Other reports, while unconfirmed, put the death toll well into the hundreds, citing local doctors in Iran.

سیل جمعیت خیابان‌های تهران را فتح کردند، این مردم با شکوه‌اند/پونک-تهران/٢٠دی pic.twitter.com/1SYcQolKgK

— Naser Khoshnevis | ناصر خوشنویس (@khoshnevisnaser) January 10, 2026

A witness in western Iran reached by phone told Reuters that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was deployed and opening fire in the area from which the witness was speaking, declining to be identified for safety.

Earlier Saturday, the Telegraph reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had put the IRGC on the highest state of alert to quell the protests.

A doctor in northwestern Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals. Some were badly beaten, suffering head injuries and broken legs and arms, as well as deep cuts. At least 20 people in one hospital had been shot with live ammunition, five of whom later died.

An anonymous Tehran doctor cited by TIME magazine said Saturday that 217 protester deaths, “most by live ammunition,” were registered in six hospitals in the city as of Thursday night.

New footage confirms the chaos is escalating. Massive crowds are moving through debris and fires across Tehran tonight. pic.twitter.com/uZc9wLwse3

— Melissa Francis (@MelissaAFrancis) January 10, 2026

According to Iranian state TV, several more members of the country’s security........

© The Times of Israel