18 dead, tens arrested as Iran’s protests enter second week: Watchdog

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than a dozen people have been killed and over 170 others arrested as protests over worsening economic conditions enter their second week across several Iranian provinces, an Oslo-based rights monitor reported Sunday, as the United Nations has urged authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly.

The Hengaw Human Rights Organization said it has “verified the identities of 18 people killed during the recent protests,” adding that at least six other cases are “under review” by its verification team and will be reported publicly once confirmed. Of the victims, the rights watchdog reported that “at least nine were Lur and seven were Kurdish.”

The deaths have occurred since demonstrations began in the Iranian capital last week, driven by rising living costs and the rapid devaluation of the Iranian currency. The protests and strikes spread to several other Iranian cities on Thursday.

Hengaw further reported that 24 people have been arrested across multiple cities on Sunday, including four women and five children. The rights watchdog noted that “no information has been released regarding the detainees’ current condition or whereabouts.”

In a previous report, the rights monitor said that at least 177 people were arrested during the first week of the protests.

In a Saturday post on X, Mai Sato, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, urged Iranian authorities to “respect the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and to refrain from using excessive force against peaceful protesters.”

The previous day, the UN Human Rights Office cited Commissioner Volker Turk as calling on Tehran to “uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.”

“All individuals must be able to protest peacefully and express their grievances,” he stressed.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that the demands of protesters in the country are “completely fair,” but added that rioters “must be put in their place.” Iranian officials have also accused “hostile entities” of seeking to exploit the demonstrations to destabilize the country.

The renewed protests have drawn international attention, particularly after US President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Friday that Washington would come to the “rescue” of demonstrators if Iranian authorities used lethal force.

The United States is “locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said.

Iranian officials snapped back at Trump’s remarks, going as far as issuing veiled warnings against US interests in the region.

Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday described the US president’s comments as “reckless and dangerous,” saying Iranian forces know “where to aim” if the country’s sovereignty is violated.

Earlier the same day, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that “all American centers and forces in the entire region will be our legitimate targets” in response to Trump’s statement.

The Iranian rial has plunged to new lows in recent weeks, trading at around 1.42 million rials to the US dollar, up from about 650,000 rials a year earlier.

Inflation is also rampant, estimated at nearly 50 percent, while rising import costs continue to erode living standards amid renewed sanctions and mounting diplomatic pressure.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday met with labor leaders and pledged to address the protesters’ “legitimate demands” while working to safeguard livelihoods, according to the state-affiliated Mehr News Agency.

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