From AFP: Iranian President Hassan Rohani phoned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, January 2 to demand action against a "terrorist" Iranian opposition group he accused of fomenting recent protests.
"We criticise the fact that a terrorist group has a base in France and acts against the Iranian people... and we await action from the French government against this terrorist group," Rohani told Macron, according to a report on Iranian state television.
He was referring to an exiled Iranian opposition group based in Paris and called the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization.
‘Khamenei Is A Murderer, chanted protesters in Hamadan, in the evening January 2.
Protests in the capital, Tehran, Tuesday, January 2.
More amateur video clips posted on social media on January 2 appear to show protests continuing in Iran after days of unrest. Demonstrations were reportedly taking place in dozens of towns and cities including the capital, Tehran. RFE/RL cannot independently confirm the authenticity of each video clip.
The Trump administration is calling on Iran's government to stop blocking Instagram and other popular social media sites as Iranians are demonstrating in the streets, AP reported.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein says the United States wants Iran to "open these sites." He says Instagram, Telegram and other platforms are "legitimate avenues for communication."
The United States is encouraging Iranians to use virtual private networks, known as VPNs. Those services create encrypted links between computers and can be used to access blocked websites.
Goldstein says the U.S. is still communicating with Iranians in Farsi through State Department accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. He says the U.S. wants to "encourage the protesters to continue to fight for what's right."
Goldstein says the U.S. has an "obligation not to stand by."
Security forces on the streets of Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, in the evening January 2.