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US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s authorities against killing protesters amid nationwide demonstrations on Thursday, praising Iranians as “brave people.”

It began with metal shutters dropping in Tehran. At two neighboring shopping centers, shopkeepers on Dec. 28 pulled down their doors as security forces moved in, and the first chants rose from the corridors into the street.

A nationwide internet outage has gripped Iran, according to London-based internet monitoring group NetBlocks, shortly after massive crowds poured into the streets following calls for nationwide protests.

British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told parliament on Thursday that there were reports of Russian cargo aircraft landing in Tehran and quantities of gold leaving the country.

Iranian officials have begun publicly blaming one another and foreign foes for ongoing unrest across the country, exposing sharp divisions in Tehran on one of the greatest challenges yet to the Islamic Republic.

The Western Iranian province of Ilam has emerged as one of the epicenters of nationwide protests, with some of the deadliest confrontations yet between demonstrators and security forces.

US Senator Ted Cruz told Iran International on Wednesday that the American people back ongoing protests in the country against theocratic rule and credited President Donald Trump for attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Iran may not be Venezuela, but the Islamic Republic may at its most vulnerable point in its near 50-year existence as pressure builds from the streets, foreign intelligence services and inside the clerical establishment, analysts told Iran International.

Chinese independent refiners are expected to increasingly rely on Iranian heavy crude in the coming months, as Venezuelan oil shipments to China stall after the United States moved to redirect Venezuelan exports, traders and analysts told Reuters.

An Iranian newspaper reported that security forces blocked blood donations and took wounded protesters from a hospital after opening fire on demonstrations in the western town of Malekshahi, a rare domestic account of alleged abuses that has drawn condemnation from rights groups.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that protests roiling the country could be resolved by the country's government and people, calling the unrest an internal matter in an apparent rebuke to US solidarity with demonstrators.

Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency on Wednesday, state media said, in a case authorities described as involving the transfer of sensitive security information and direct coordination with alleged Israeli operatives inside the country.

Tehran appears to be placing growing emphasis on its ballistic missile program amid continued domestic unrest and the looming possibility of US intervention in support of protesters in Iran.

State media in Iran are portraying the country as calm, even as rights groups and videos emerging from streets point to expanding protests and intensifying repression.

Exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi on Tuesday issued his first public call for protests since the latest nationwide uprising began, urging coordinated chanting on Thursday evening, hours after Kurdish opposition parties separately called for a general strike that day.

Protesters in Iran have appealed directly to Donald Trump for protection according to new videos sent to Iran International on Tuesday after the US president twice warned Tehran not to kill demonstrators or face US intervention.

At least 36 people have been killed during ongoing protests in Iran, a US-based human rights group said, as merchant strikes and street demonstrations spread to 285 locations across 92 cities nationwide on the tenth day of unrest.

As Venezuela enters a volatile phase following Nicolas Maduro’s capture by US forces over the weekend, Iran’s strategic investments in the country’s oil refining sector are facing a sudden and uncertain reckoning.

President Donald Trump would likely authorize more US attacks if Iran advances its nuclear or missile programs, Republican senators told Jewish Insider.

Iran’s government said it had ordered an investigation into unrest in the western province of Ilam after rights groups condemned reports that security forces raided a hospital where injured protesters were being treated.

Iran’s protest slogans have shifted from reformist appeals in the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations to more prominent calls to reinstate the monarchy ousted in 1979, transcending Tehran's central political divide between moderates and hardliners.