Gunshots and blasts heard at Mahsa Amini protests in Iran

Government officials are struggling to end the protests led by young Iranians, especially women, previously regarded as uninterested by politics.

The British government on Monday announced new sanctions against the entirety of the Iranian morality police, as well as its national and Tehran city commanders, following similar moves by the US and are expected to be followed by the EU in the coming days. Sanctions were also imposed on five Iranian police chiefs in part due to their role in suppressing November 2019 protests.

The human rights group Hengaw posted footage it described as smoke rising in a Sanandaj neighbourhood with what sounded like rapid rifle fire echoing through the night sky and people shouting.

During the protests in the neighbouring Kurdish county of Salas-e Babajani, a 22-year-old man called Arin Muridi was murdered, Hengaw claimed. He was hit by direct fire from government forces, it said. More than 120 were injured in the weekend protests.

Deaths were also reported by officials after a riot broke out at Lakan prison in Rasht. Officials claimed the incident was precipitated by a dispute between two prisoners but there have also been reports of political activity in the facility in recent days.

For the third time since the unrest started, members of the medical community issued a statement demanding security forces show greater restraint, saying protesters were being taken out of ambulances and beaten up with batons.

The Iranian official press countered by publishing the names of 24 security officials they claimed had been killed by rioters since the protests started.