<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a> (Pajhwok) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday denounced Iran's crackdown on anti-government protesters, as rights groups said the death toll had soared.<br />
Protests erupted in Iran on Nov. 15 after an announcement that petrol prices were going up by as much as 200 percent with immediate effect.<br />
"Iran is killing perhaps thousands and thousands of people right now as we speak," Trump told reporters in London ahead of a <a href="/en/nato" class="glossify-link">NATO</a> summit.<br />
"That's why they cut off the internet. They cut off the internet so people can't see what's going on.<br />
"And frankly, I don't know how you get in there, I don't know how you do your business but the press ought to get in there and see what's going on."<br />
Trump added: "The word is that thousands of people are being killed in Iran that are protesting.<br />
"Not just small numbers, which are bad; big numbers, which are really bad — and really big numbers."<br />
Asked if there was more that the United States could do, he replied: "I'd rather not say right now.<br />
"It's a terrible thing and I think the <a href="/en/world" class="glossify-link">world</a> has to be watching.<br />
"But many, many people are being killed in Iran right now for protesting. For the mere fact that they're protesting."<br />
Banks and petrol stations were torched and shops looted in the violence which was quickly quashed by authorities who also imposed a week-long, near-total internet blackout.<br />
London-based human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday that at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown.<br />
Iran on Tuesday rejected as "utter lies" unofficial casualty figures given for the street violence.<br />
The authorities have not yet provided any overall death toll for the unrest. — AFP</p>
