International Phone Calls Resume From Iran After 3 Days, People Describe Heavy Security And Damage

After more than three days, the international phone calls resumed in Iran on Tuesday even as protests against the regime continued.

According to AFP, it has been impossible to make phone calls abroad since

Friday and on Tuesday the international phone calls resumed.

However, the government did not ease restrictions on the internet or allow texting services, Associated Press reported.

The Norway-based organisation Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Monday that it had verified the deaths of 648 people, including nine minors, during the unrest.

Thousands more have been injured, while the actual toll is believed to be far higher. Citing unverified estimates, the group said fatalities could exceed 6,000.

Rights groups have warned that a near-total internet shutdown, now stretching beyond three-and-a-half days according to monitoring group NetBlocks, is hampering efforts to document the violence and may be intended to conceal the true extent of the crackdown.

IHR said the blackout has made independent verification of reports “extremely difficult”.

The organisation also estimated that around 10,000 people have been detained since the protests intensified.

According to AP, after the blockade on international calls were lifted, the witnesses gave a brief glimpse into life on the streets of the Iranian capital over the four and a half days of being cut off from the world. They described seeing a heavy security presence in central Tehran.

They further said that several banks and government offices were gutted in fire during the protest. ATMs had been smashed and banks struggled to complete transactions without the internet, AP quoted the witnesses.

They also said there was heavy presence of anti-riot police officers and members of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, who also carried firearms and batons. Security officials in plainclothes were visible in public spaces as well.

The protests, which erupted more than two weeks ago over economic grievances, have since grown into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s ruling system since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In an effort to reassert control, authorities on Monday organised pro-government rallies across the country in support of the Islamic Republic.