Iran protests subside after deadly crackdown, but tensions persist

Iran's deadly crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests for now, according to a rights group and residents, as state media reported more arrests on Friday against the backdrop of repeated US threats to intervene if the killing continued.

Fears of a US attack have receded since Wednesday, when President Donald Trump said he had been told killings in Iran were easing. US allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, conducted intense diplomacy with Washington this week to prevent a US strike, a Gulf official said, warning of wider regional repercussions that would ultimately impact the United States.

The White House said on Thursday that Trump and his team had warned Tehran there would be "grave consequences" for further bloodshed. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added that the president understood 800 scheduled executions were halted and was keeping "all of his options on the table".

More accounts of the violence have emerged after a communications blackout was lifted earlier this week. One woman in Tehran told Reuters by phone that her 15-year-old daughter was killed on Friday after joining a demonstration. "Basij forces followed her as she was trying to return home," she said.

The protests, which erupted on December 28 over soaring inflation in the sanctions-crippled economy, spiralled into one of the biggest challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Heavy security deployments and sporadic unrest
Several residents of Tehran said the capital had been quiet since Sunday, with drones flying overhead and a heavy security presence. The Norway-based rights group Hengaw said there had been no protest gatherings since Sunday, but confirmed a "highly restrictive" security environment with a heavy military deployment in previous protest sites.

However, reports of sporadic unrest continued. Hengaw reported a female nurse was killed by direct gunfire from government forces in Karaj, west of Tehran. State-affiliated Tasnim news reported rioters set fire to a local education office in Isfahan Province.

Video circulating online and verified by Reuters showed dozens of bodies in a forensic centre in Tehran, though the date could not be confirmed.