Rights groups are reporting that Iran is carrying out a major crackdown in the Kurdish town of Mahabad. The town has seen intense anti-regime protests in recent days, with people staging sit-ins and setting up barricades.
In video circulated on social media overnight, gunfire and screaming can be heard. Another clip shared by an exiled Kurdish opposition party claims to show plainclothes members of the Revolutionary Guard firing into the sky. Activists say electricity has been cut and there are unconfirmed reports of protesters being killed or wounded.