Iran arrests protest leaders as crackdown intensifies amid threat of US intervention

Washington and Tehran step up war of words over Donald Trump’s threat to intervene in response to unrest

Iranian authorities have arrested key members of the protest movement that has rocked the country over the last two weeks, the national police chief said, as Washington and Tehran threaten each other over the prospect of US intervention in the Islamic republic.

“Last night, significant arrests were made of the main elements in the riots, who, God willing, will be punished after going through legal procedures,” the police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, told state TV on Sunday, without specifying the number of those arrested.