More than 90 million Iranians remain largely cut off from the world due to a week-long internet blackout, imposed by Iranian authorities amid the largest anti-government protests the country has seen in years.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, US time, that "important sources" in the Islamic Republic had informed his administration that Iranian security forces had ceased a brutal crackdown against demonstrations.
An update from the US-based HRANA rights group said it had confirmed the deaths of 2,615 people and that 18,470 had been detained since the protests began in Iran last month.
Amnesty International head Agnès Callamard said on Thursday that even by the Iranian authorities' "own bleak record … the severity and scale of the killings and repression since January 8 is unprecedented".
"As large sectors of Iranian society flooded the streets braving bullets, Iran's Supreme Leader and security forces have waged their deadliest crackdown yet," she said.
Yet speaking at the White House, Mr Trump said: "We've been told that the killing in Iran is stopping — it's stopped — it's stopping."
"There's no plan for executions," he said.
"I've been told that on good authority."
The BBC and human rights group Hengaw said one of those detained, 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, was set to be executed on Wednesday, local time.
"The family has reportedly been granted only a brief opportunity for a final visit prior to the execution," Hengaw said.
But Iran's judiciary has since been quoted in state media as saying Mr Soltani had not been sentenced to death, adding that he had been charged with "colluding against the country's internal security and propaganda activities against the regime".
The death penalty does not apply to such charges if they are confirmed by a court, according to the state media reports.
Mr Trump's comments came after his declarations in recent days that the US would come to the "rescue" of protesters, previously warning the Iranian regime would "pay hell" if protesters were shot and killed.
Possible 'decline' in street demonstrations
In an update on Wednesday, US time, HRANA said there were "no verifiable reports of newly registered street protests" in Iran.
It said this could either reflect a "decline in visible street demonstrations" or be "the direct result of severe communications restrictions".
NetBlocks, a UK-based internet watchdog, reported on Thursday that Iran's "near-total" communications blackout had entered its seventh day.
Alam Saleh from the Australian National University's Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies told the ABC several people inside Iran had told him the situation was growing quieter.
"They all agree it's calming down, it's no longer as intensive. Nothing much in the street," he said.
"But the security forces, of course, are everywhere."
Dr Saleh said Mr Trump's declaration that the situation had died down in Iran was motivated by not wanting to imminently launch military action.
Mr Trump had previously warned Tehran that "strong options" were on the table in terms of US military intervention.
Yet regional powers in the Middle East — even Iran's adversaries — opposed US military action against Iran, Dr Saleh said, because they feared it would "destabilise the whole region".
"[Trump] knows that getting into a war with Iran won't be short, it won't be easy," he said.
US or Israeli military strikes against Iran could also bolster the regime's narrative that those protesting in the streets were agents "supported, guided and organised by foreign actors", Dr Saleh added.
Diaspora Iranians desperate for information
Few videos have been published on social media and verifying information out of Iran has become difficult since the regime imposed a communications blackout.
NetBlocks director Alp Toker told the ABC that it was among the longest internet blackouts NetBlocks had recorded — and appeared motivated by the regime's desire to hide atrocities.
"This kind of total shutdown is very costly to the regime itself, to the economy," he said.
"The only reason that authorities tend to resort to this is the concealment of killings and repression of restive cities and entire regions.
"It's just as much to prevent justice and the recording of those killings as it is to quieten the situation, from what we can tell."
Iranian authorities have also cut conventional phone lines.
"History will remember who spoke when an entire nation was pushed into darkness," said Sahar Gholizadeh, a Melbourne-based Iranian community leader.
Ms Gholizadeh told the ABC that sporadic messages from contacts in Iran had confirmed her immediate family were still alive, but that her cousin had been detained by security forces.
Some Iranians have been able to access satellite internet connection via Starlink.
People near borders could get some mobile reception from a neighbouring country, Mr Toker said, which was how updates were continuing to trickle out of Iran.
"But they don't necessarily know what is happening in the rest of the country," he said.
"It doesn't get information from Tehran."
Some say 'no alternative' but US intervention
Many diaspora Iranians have called for the Islamic Republic's replacement by an interim government led by Reza Pahlavi, who from exile in the US has encouraged the demonstrations on social media.
Mr Pahlavi is the eldest son of the Shah of Iran who was deposed in the 1979 revolution.
Supporters argue he could lead an interim government to oversee a transition to secular democracy in Iran.
"There is no other alternative," said Ms Gholizadeh, who is a mental health professional and former president of the Australian Iranian Society of Victoria.
"There is no other path, unfortunately. It has to be foreign interference."
An Iranian-Australian based in Brisbane, who requested not to be named for fear of retribution against their family in Iran, said that while they were not pro-Trump, they saw US military action as the only solution.
"I never liked foreign military intervention. But this is beyond anything that I could imagine in my darkest nightmares," they said.
"We need help and we need it now."
But while most Iranians were disenchanted with the Islamic Republic, many remained fearful of the possible consequences of US military action, Dr Saleh said.
"Bombing does not suddenly lead to peace and prosperity," he said.
