Iran is roiled by anti-government protests

For what it’s worth, it’s not just flights to Iran that are being cancelled.
In Israel, too, several major airlines (AirFrance, Lufthansa, KLM) have announced cancellations due to political tensions.

It may just be an issue of insurance coverage. The airlines prefer to lose a little money by cancelling a couple flights rather than risk lawsuits from passengers if something bad happens. Also, insurance probably doesn’t cover a war zone I assume that the airlines don’t have any special military intelligence.

Also, for what it’s worth..many other airlines are still flying routinely to and from Israel. (This includes ElAl-and they fly in full accordance to Israeli Air Force intelligence.)

Do you know which military? The Ayatollah’s Guard, or the regular army (Artesh)?
And can you speculate what the significance would be if it is Artesh? Earlier in the thread there were hints that Artesh is not so loyal to the regime. A week ago there were isolated reports of soldiers joining the protesters.

The information we got isn’t that specific. There’s an internal communication blackout too, remember. This is all whispered word of mouth.

But if an attack by American forces is imminent, then the mobilization would be general, all available forces. It’s the specific deployment that will vary: Artesh at the borders and incursion points, the Guard focused on defending regime assets and personnel.

In other words, they’ll being posted as far as possible from any potential combat.

If the Iranian military is mobilizing, it’s probably in response to this:

There are reports that the death toll was even higher than imagined, at over 30,000 people:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1heybmlwl#autoplay

Came here to post a link to the same claim from TIME.

SPECIFICALLY the claim is not 30,000 dead overall it is 30,000 dead on Jan 8 and 9 alone.

Potentially interesting background article on one of the Farsi language channels trying to bring news out of (and into) the country.

No concrete updates to provide on a personal front, alas.

This may need to be split off into a new thread if it escalates further, but…

Earlier today or last night depending on time zone a US tanker was approached by Iranian ships and told to stop and be boarded. It fled and was able to reach an American warship who escorted it away.

Now the USS Lincoln, a carrier, shot down an Iranian UAV that approached it.

Any news link?

Moderating: Also as the US presence and saber rattling is encourage more protest, this type of story is fine in this thread.

Reliable Link:
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-shoots-down-iranian-drone-approaching-aircraft-carrier-official-says-2026-02-03/

Sorry, saw it on live Israeli news, thanks for finding the link.

Is the identity/affiliation of the attempted-piracy ships known? Were they internal military, the external military, or something without official governmental affiliation?

According to this, it was IRGC (Revolutionary Guard) boats.

Not all in the IRGC are pleased with the crackdown.

After a long pause, it looks like the protests are resuming:

I am assuming this has to do with the build up of American forces in the region?