Iran protests in Pics – 192 people killed, President Masoud Pezeshkian to address nation | Today News

Amid ongoing protests in Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to address economic plans and "people's demands" in an interview on Sunday, state TV said.

The development comes after two weeks of protests sparked by anger over the rising cost of living.

"In a conversation with the national media, the president laid out the status of the government's major economic plan to reform the subsidy system, and also discussed recent events and the government's approach to responding to the people's demands," state TV IRIB said.

Pezeshkian’s interview would be broadcast later Sunday.

Iran authorities have made significant arrests of key figures in the protest movement that has swept the Islamic republic over the last two weeks, the national police chief said Sunday.

"Last night (Saturday evening), significant arrests were made of the main elements in the riots, who, God willing, will be punished after going through legal procedures," Ahmad-Reza Radan told state TV.

At least 192 people have been killed in two weeks of violent protests against the Iranian government and economic strain, a rights group said on Sunday.

"Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters," the Norway-based NGO said. It also warned that the toll could be much higher as a days-long internet blackout hampered verification.

Meanwhile, the son of the last shah of Iran has become a prominent voice spurring on protesters staging the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Reza Pahlavi, 65, has sought to speak as a national leader despite living outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In messages sent from his home in the United States, he has repeatedly praised Iranians demanding change and, like those who ended his father's rule, calling for an end to repression.

"We will completely bring the Islamic Republic and its worn-out, fragile apparatus of repression to its knees," he said in one of his most recent messages, in a video posted on X.

Some protesters have voiced support for him in videos circulating on social media, with some chants of "Long live the shah", suggesting his messages may be galvanising some people.

Many others simply call for sweeping political change, with slogans such as "Down with the dictator", a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who under Iran's system of clerical rule has the final say in all state matters.

Others shout slogans demanding action to fix an economy hammered by years of international sanctions and pummelled by a 12-day war in June, when Israel and then the US launched airstrikes on Iran.