Trump threatened to take “very strong action” if Iran hangs protesters.

President Donald Trump has said the US will take “forceful action” against Iran if it executes protesters, as rights groups say more than 2,400 anti-government protesters have been killed in a violent crackdown by Iranian authorities.

Relatives of Irfan Soltani, 26, who was detained last week, have told BBC Persian that he will be hanged on Wednesday.

A representative of the Hong Kong Organization for Human Rights also told the BBC that he had “never seen a case move so quickly”.

Speaking to the BBC’s US affiliate CBS News, Trump said of the possible execution, “If they execute him, you’ll see some things… If they do something like that, we will take very strong action.”

Soltani’s relative told BBC Persian that an Iranian court had issued the death sentence “in a very fast process, in just two days.”

Hengo representative Avayar Sheikhi said the case shows that the Iranian government is “using every tactic to suppress people and spread fear”.

An Iranian official told Reuters that 2,000 people were killed, but that “terrorists” were to blame.

Trump had earlier said he planned to attend a meeting at the White House on Tuesday night to discuss the situation in Iran and promised to get “accurate numbers” on the death toll from the protests.

The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed the killing of 2,403 protesters so far, as well as 12 children, despite the internet blackout. The group said about 150 people associated with the government were also killed.

“It looks like the assassination is significant, but we don’t know for sure yet,” Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House.

Once they have the numbers, he said, “We will take action accordingly.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iranian officials would “pay a heavy price” for the killings and urged people to “keep protesting”.

“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. Help is on its way. “MIGA!!!” he said, using the acronym of the US-based Iranian opposition slogan, “Make Iran Great Again.”

Trump is considering military and other options in response to this action, having already announced 25% tariffs on any country that trades with Iran.

Iran’s government has responded by accusing the US of “making an excuse for military intervention”, warning that “this strategy has failed before”.

The protests, which have reportedly spread to 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces, were sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and the rising cost of living.

They rapidly turned into demands for political change and became one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The escalation of protests last Thursday resulted in an almost complete shutdown of internet and communications services, prompting authorities to resort to lethal force.

Protesters have been arrested during the unrest.

According to HRANA, more than 18,434 protesters have been arrested during the unrest.

The true scale of the bloodshed is difficult to estimate because the BBC is not able to report from inside the country, unlike other international news organisations.

However, videos posted online on Sunday showed people searching for the bodies of their loved ones at the Kahrizak Forensic Center in Tehran. The BBC counted at least 180 covered bodies and body bags in the footage.

Another video from the facility shared on Monday showed about 50 bodies.

“My friend went there [Kahrizak] to look for his brother, and he forgot his grief,” one activist told BBC Persian on Monday.

“They left piles of dead bodies from every locality, like Saadatabad, Naziabad, and Sattarkhan. So you go to the pile of your address and search there. You don’t know even a fraction of the level of violence used.”

Hospitals in the capital have also reportedly been overwhelmed by the number of casualties.

Professor Shahram Kordasti, a London-based Iranian oncologist, told the BBC’s Newsday programme on Tuesday that the last message he received from a colleague in Tehran said, “In most hospitals, it’s like a battlefield. We are short of supplies, short of blood.”

Other doctors from “two to three hospitals”, he said, also said they had treated hundreds of injured or dead people.

An Iranian living in Rasht, near the Caspian Sea coast, described the city as unrecognisable. “Everywhere is on fire,” he said.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged Iranian authorities to immediately stop all forms of violence and repression against peaceful protesters, his office said.

He said it was unacceptable to label protesters as “terrorists” to justify violence and it was “extremely worrying” to see statements from Iranian officials indicating the possibility of death sentences against protesters through speedy trials.

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejei said on Monday that those involved in the unrest “will be dealt with seriously and seriously”. And prosecutors have said some will be charged with “enmity toward God”, a national security crime that carries the death penalty.

The Turks also demanded that Iranian authorities restore full access to the Internet and other communications services.

Some international calls from Iran went through on Tuesday, but the internet shutdown has now passed 132 hours, according to monitor Netblocks.

A person with access to the Starlink satellite service who lives near Tehran told BBC Persian that there were “checkpoints in every block,” where cars and their occupants’ phones were being inspected by security forces.

New videos of the protests have also emerged in recent days, with BBC Persian confirming videos filmed in the central city of Arak and the western cities of Tabriz, Urmia and Khorramabad.

In the footage of Khurramabad, gunshots can be heard during clashes between security forces and protesters, some of whom are throwing stones.

Protesters chanted “Death to the dictator”—a reference to Ayatollah Khamenei—and “Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace,” referring to the late King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in a 1979 revolution and whose son, Reza, lives in exile.