‘Final days and weeks’ for regime in Iran, says Germany - as about 2,000 protesters killed
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that Iran’s clerical leadership is in ruins.
Around 2,000 people have been killed in the protests in Iran, an Iranian official has said.
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The official says this figure includes security personnel and blames "terrorists" for the deaths.
The latest death toll shows a significant escalation as the previous figure for the number of dead was 646 people, as reported by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The ongoing internet blackout in Iran means these figures are likely not the total figure, as getting information out of the country is difficult.
Read more: The Iranian Revolution will find no benefit from American intervention, writes Andrew Marr
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that Iran’s clerical leadership is in ruins, arguing the regime can no longer survive without violence.
“If a regime can only stay in power through violence, then it is effectively finished. I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” Merz told journalists during his visit to India.
“I hope there is a way to end this conflict peacefully. The mullah regime has to recognise that as well,” he added.
The demonstrations in Iran began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to one US dollar.
Iran's economy has been squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear programme.
The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.
Video circulating online appears to show dozens of bodies in a morgue on the outskirts of Iran's capital.
People with knowledge of the facility and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Monday that the video shows the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Centre.
In the footage, people are seen walking by dozens of bodies in bags laid out in a large room, attempting to identify them.
On Monday pro-government demonstrators took to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel".
Others cried out "death to the enemies of God".
Iran's attorney general has warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an "enemy of God," a death penalty charge.
US president Donald Trump has said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its violent crackdown on protesters.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday he continued to communicate with US envoy Steve Witkoff.
The communication "continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing," Mr Araghchi said. However, he added: "Washington's proposed ideas and threats against our country are incompatible."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran's public rhetoric diverges from the private messaging the administration has received from Tehran in recent days.
"I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages," Ms Leavitt said.
"However, with that said, the president has shown he is unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran."