Limited internet access has returned in Iran, a monitor said Sunday, 10 days after authorities imposed a communications blackout that rights groups have said was aimed at masking a violent protest crackdown that killed thousands.Iran’s president warned that an attack on the country’s supreme leader would be a declaration of war — an apparent response to US counterpart Donald Trump saying it was time to look for new leadership in Iran.Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years.The rallies subsided after the crackdown that rights groups have called a “massacre” carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8 as the protests grew in size and intensity. Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into “riots” and blamed foreign influence from Iran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel. Trump, who backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had repeatedly threatened new military action against Tehran if protesters were killed. While Washington appeared to have stepped back, Trump hit out at supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in power for 37 years — in an interview with Politico on Saturday, saying it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran”. “The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” Trump said. “His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday in an X post: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”As leaders in Washington and Tehran have exchanged barbs, Iranian officials have said calm has been restored in the streets. Security forces with armoured vehicles and motorcycles were seen in central Tehran, according to AFP correspondents.One new banner in central Tehran showed a set of dominoes with images including the former shah of Iran, ousted Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and Trump with the caption, “dominoes falling”. Schools reopened on Sunday — Iran’s weekend falling on Thursday and Friday — after a week of closure and authorities said “internet access would also be gradually restored”, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday. – ‘Cannot just stay silent’ -Monitor Netblocks said some online services, including Google, had partially returned in Iran, though overall connectivity remained disrupted. Some users reported access to WhatsApp, while outgoing international calls had resumed since Tuesday, and text messaging was restored Saturday.  Solidarity demonstrations have continued in multiple cities in recent days, including in Berlin, London and Paris. “While our people and our loved ones are stuck there, are imprisoned as a whole nation there, we cannot just stay silent,” said a 32-year-old protester of Iranian origin who did not want to give her name. Despite the restrictions, information had still filtered out, with reports of atrocities emerging, according to rights groups. Amnesty International said it had verified dozens of videos and accounts in recent days showing a “massacre of protesters” by security forces.Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within the Islamic republic’s health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.However, the NGO warns the true toll is likely far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll for the protests.Other estimates place the death toll at more than 5,000 — and possibly as high as 20,000 — though the internet blackout has severely hampered independent verification, IHR says.The opposition Iran International channel based outside the country has said at least 12,000 people were killed during the protests, citing senior government and security sources.Iran’s judiciary has rejected that figure.- ‘Not be spared’ -On Saturday, Khamenei said “a few thousand” people had been killed by what he called “agents” of the United States and Israel, and Iranian local media has reported multiple deaths among security forces.Khamenei said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists”, as local media have reported thousands of arrests and rights groups have estimated up to 20,000 people have been detained. On Sunday, Iran’s judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir reiterated that swift trials would be held, warning that some acts warranted the capital offence of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”. “All those who played a decisive role in these calls for violence, which led to bloodshed and significant damage to public finances, will not be spared,” he said.Alarm has grown over the threat of capital punishment against arrested protesters, even as Trump said Iran had called off hundreds of executions. Analyst Arif Keskin cast doubt on Trump’s claim, saying “the Iranian leadership sees executions… as an effective tool to end protests, prevent them and suppress them”.”For the regime, executions will carry short-term international costs but are seen as a long-term investment in domestic security,” the Ankara-based Iranian researcher and Middle East specialist told AFP. “The risk therefore remains very real.” burs-sw/amj

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east.The agreement, which will also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state, marks a blow for the minority, which has long held ambitions of preserving the de facto autonomy they had exercised over areas they held for over a decade.It comes after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus.The deal follows months of stalled negotiations between authorities and the Kurds on integrating their administration and forces into the central government.Sharaa announced the ceasefire to reporters on Sunday, saying he had been scheduled to meet the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, but it was postponed until Monday due to poor weather.”In order to calm the situation, we decided to sign the agreement,” Sharaa said. Government forces this weekend captured the strategic city of Tabqa in the Raqa region as well as the Euphrates Dam, and have advanced into parts of Deir Ezzor province, including the Al-Omar oil field, the country’s largest. That followed advances in Aleppo province.Clashes reached Raqa city on Sunday, with state media saying SDF gunfire killed two civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor meanwhile reported fighting between the SDF and “local Arab tribal fighters” there.Sharaa met in Damascus on Sunday with US envoy Tom Barrack, who called the deal with the Kurds a “pivotal inflection point”.The Syrian presidency published the text of the 14-point agreement, which includes integrating the SDF and Kurdish security forces into Syria’s defence and interior ministries and the immediate handover of Kurdish-run Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces to the government.It will also see Damascus take responsibility for Islamic State group prisoners and their families held in Kurdish-run jails and camps. Sharaa had on Friday issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition, but the Kurds said the announcement fell short of their expectations.On the ground, an AFP correspondent on Raqa’s outskirts reported hearing gunfire on Sunday and said government forces brought reinforcements and were combing parts of the city.- ‘Opening the door’ -The SDF suddenly withdrew “from all areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the Al-Omar and Tanak oil fields”, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.He said the movements in Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces came as “fighters from local tribes, including Arab fighters who are part of the SDF, advanced in coordination with government troops”.The government has also said it retook the Safyan and Al-Tharwa oil fields in Raqa province.Its push has captured Arab-majority areas that came under Kurdish control during the fight against IS.Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir said the return of the area’s resources to state control “means opening the door wide for reconstruction, revitalising agriculture, energy and trade”. The army has also announced its control of the Euphrates Dam near Tabqa, a key water and energy facility that includes one of Syria’s largest hydroelectric power stations.An AFP correspondent saw armoured vehicles and tanks around Tabqa, with security personnel patrolling the streets.Shops were closed, but some residents milled outside their homes, lighting fires to keep warm.Resident Ahmad Hussein told AFP that people were afraid, adding: “We have suffered a lot, and I hope that the situation will improve with the arrival of the Syrian army.”Near the dam, an AFP photographer saw residents destroying a statue honouring a woman who fought with Kurdish forces and who was killed by IS during the battle for Raqa city.- ‘Killing must stop’ -Deir Ezzor province said all public institutions were closed on Sunday and urged people to stay home.The Kurdish forces’ withdrawal came after Barrack met Syrian Kurdish leader Abdi in Erbil on Saturday, and the US Central Command urged government forces “to cease any offensive actions” between Aleppo and Tabqa.The United States has long supported the Kurdish forces, but it also backs Syria’s new Islamist authorities. In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in Syria’s northeast, hundreds of residents demonstrated Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, chanting slogans including “we will defend our heroes”.Muhayeddine Hassan, 48, said that “we want a democracy that represents all Syrians”.If Sharaa “wants equality… the killing must stop”, he said.burs-lar/lg/axn/jsa