Kari Lake, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) under President Trump, has blocked Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from using a powerful transmitter operated by the USAGM in Kuwait to broadcast news and protest updates into Iran, amid the Islamic Republic’s ongoing nationwide internet blackout and brutal crackdown, Oliver Darcy reported in his recent independent newsletter Status.

Partial cell service was briefly returned to the Iranian capital of Tehran early Tuesday morning for the first time in over four days, with several calls reportedly being made between residents and journalists serving at the Dubai Office for The Associated Press (AP).

Iranian authorities are hunting down users of Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink in an effort to stop protest videos from reaching the outside world, with security forces launching an operation over the weekend to search for and confiscate Starlink dishes in Western Tehran, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to the Editorial Board of Iran International, at least 12,000 people have been killed so far by security forces in ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran, calling it the “largest massacre in contemporary Iranian history,” occurring primarily over two consecutive nights, last Thursday and Friday, January 8 and 9.

Iran International stated that the statistics are based on information received from one source close to the Supreme National Security Council, two sources in the Office of the President, accounts received from several sources in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the cities of Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Isfahan, eyewitness accounts and families of the deceased, field reports, data related to medical centers, and information obtained by doctors and nurses in various cities across Iran.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the world is seeing the “final days” of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as anti-government protests continue to spread across the country, with hundreds of thousands demonstrating in the Iranian capital of Tehran. “When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, it is effectively finished. I believe that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” Metz told reporters today during a two-day visit to India.

President Donald J. Trump in a post earlier on Truth Social directed at anti-regime protesters in Iran, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”

Other than a few movements in the last day or so that were slightly interesting, there still has been no concerted effort observed by the U.S. Air Force or Navy, no major airlift or ongoing buildup, to prepare for future military action against Iran. However, if action is imminent, I would expect the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is quietly on its way from the South China Sea.

A senior Iranian health ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said about 3,000 people had been killed across the country but sought to shift the blame to “terrorists” fomenting unrest. The figure included hundreds of security officers, he said. Another government official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he had seen an internal report that referred to at least 3,000 dead, and added that the toll could climb. -NYT

At least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people have been killed during the ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran, two sources, including one inside Iran, have told CBS News.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met secretly over the weekend with the Exiled Former Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, to discuss the anti-government protests currently raging across Iran, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to Axios.

Speaking earlier on Air Force One, President Donald J. Trump was asked what he meant by ‘help is on its way’ for the protesters in Iran, stating, “You’re going to find out soon.” Before adding, “It's a good idea for Americans to leave Iran.”

On Monday night and Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump was briefed on a wide array of military and covert tools that can be used against Iran that go well beyond conventional airstrikes, including cyber operation options and psychological campaigns intended to disrupt Iranian command structures, communications and state-run media, according to two defense officials who spoke under anonymity to CBS News.

No B-52s, B-2s, or any another military aircraft, besides a lone KC-135 Stratotanker, seen via satellite imagery Monday, January 12, on the tarmac at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The National Army of Kurdistan, the military wing of the Kurdish nationalist militant group the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), claims to have have captured a Headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Northwestern Iranian city of Kermanshah.

I’d take this statement with a “grain of salt” as the PAK and SMK aren’t the most reliable and have been making pretty crazy claims since the protests first started in Iran.