Security forces kill 24-year-old protester in Yazdanshahr, source says

Sara Behboodi, a 45-year-old mountaineer, was killed during protests in Iran, IranWire website reported Saturday.

Behboodi was shot with live ammunition by Islamic Republic security forces on the evening of January 9 in the northern city of Rasht.

Japan decided on Satruday to evacuate some staff from its embassy in Tehran, a day after issuing an evacuation warning for its citizens from the country.

Citing the suspension or reduction of international flights, the Japanese government urged its citizens to leave Iran as soon as safe travel becomes possible.

Japan also issued a level-one travel advisory, calling for heightened caution, for the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, three neighboring countries that host US military bases.

The Islamic Republic is prolonging its internet shutdown rather than confronting the country’s underlying problems, portraying the move as a deliberate choice to deepen isolation, wrote the Persian-language account of the US Department of State on X.

“Instead of addressing the country’s real challenges, the Islamic Republic chooses to impose silence and isolation, underscoring how little confidence it has in its own legitimacy,” the post said.

A spokesperson for the Islamic Republic earlier announced that the internet shutdown will continue until late March, prolonging an isolation that Iranians have already endured for more than 216 hours, added the State Department.

Iran’s internet shutdown is “in line with common international practices,” Tasnim, a news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said without specifying which standards justify a nationwide blackout.

Fars News, another IRGC-linked outlet, also reported that private chats and group activity online will only be available on domestic messaging platforms.

Reza Eskandarpour, 37, was killed by direct gunfire during protests on January 8 in the Ariashahr neighborhood of Tehran, sources confirmed to Iran International.

Eskandarpour, born in October 1988 and a resident of, was shot dead by security forces, according to reports received by Iran International.

Eskandarpour was protesting with five friends when one of them was shot by security agents, sources said. He returned to help his wounded friend, at which point a sniper linked to security forces opened fire from a rooftop.

He was hit by six live rounds and killed at the scene. Two other people accompanying him were also killed at the same time.

Eskandarpour owned a cabinet-making workshop in Ariashahr and was preparing to get married, according to people close to him.