An extraordinarily violent crackdown by Iranian security forces appears to have succeeded for now in driving protesters from the streets, according to activists and analysts who managed to speak with people inside the country despite the information blackout.

Whether by overthrow or old age, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, will soon need a replacement — but the Islamic Republic lacks an obvious successor.

Iran's judiciary indicated that it might order executions, saying it identified some actions as Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning to wage war against God.

The regime may have been able to crush the latest wave of protests using its tried-and-tested playbook of repression. But the fundamental grievances animating protesters haven’t gone away.

Chicagoans with ties to Iran said they struggle to get in contact with loved ones. Being kept in the dark only heightens their fears over the extent of the violence by the government in silencing protests. Dozens braved the frigid temperatures in the Loop to call for an end to the Iranian regime.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott discusses the Trump administration’s potential intervention in Iran and President Donald Trump’s meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on ‘The Big Weekend Show.

The bloody reprisals against protesters are the culmination of decades in which the regime’s "propensity and ability to use violence" has only increased, analysts say.