Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed in Iran as days of large protests threaten the future of the ruling regime. Thousands more have reportedly been arrested.
Donald Trump has also repeatedly threatened military action if security forces kill protesters.
On 28 December shopkeepers took to the streets of Tehran to express their anger at another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial, against the US dollar on the open market.
The rial has sunk to a record low over the past year and inflation has soared to 40% which has resulted in crippling price rises for everyday items like cooking oil and meat. Sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme have squeezed an economy also weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.
University students soon joined the protests and they began spreading to other cities. There were wider calls for political change, with crowds frequently heard chanting slogans against the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
