Anti-Americanism has united Iran and Venezuela in a tight alliance for more than two decades. As recently as 2022, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed Maduro to Tehran, praising the Venezuelan strongman’s “resistance” against America and his “anti-Zionist positions,

Iran was plunged into a nationwide internet blackout Thursday as mass anti-government protests spread around the country, with Iranians angered by a flailing economy and crackdowns by security forces shouting slogans against the ruling theocratic regime.

Iran's exiled crown prince wants Iranians to seize the momentum of mass protests, and one analyst believes it could prove a tipping point.

Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials have increasingly threatened to pursue a nuclear weapon. Iran had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels prior to the U.S. attack in June, making it the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so.

Iran's economy is facing high inflation and other challenges, partly due to U.S. sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, underscoring Washington's concerns about Tehran cracking down violently on anti-regime protests.

The protests are diffuse and largely leaderless, and the president's efforts at mediation — and the killings and arrests by security forces — haven't persuaded the demonstrators to stay off the streets.

Iran says it has hanged a man who spied for Israel and is ready for a new military confrontation as it struggles to tamp down domestic unrest.