President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in the Middle Eastern nation amid a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The internet blackout extended to a partial jamming of the Starlink satellite service, which people in Iran have been using to circumvent official internet censorship, organize protests and communicate with the outside world.

President Donald Trump called on Iranian protesters to "take over" institutions and canceled all meetings with regime officials until violence stops.

Iran has deployed new techniques to swiftly and decisively crush nationwide protests, signaling a tactical shift by a regime that now views domestic dissent as an extension of the summer war with Israel.

The death toll over 16 days of mass anti-government protests in Iran reached 2,000 as of Monday, according to data published by the the U.S.-based HRANA.

Iran's government imposes five-day internet blackout as nationwide protests intensify, with at least 646 people killed and over 10,000 arrested during the crackdown.

Amid a near-total communications blackout, witness footage trickling out of Iran paints a picture of how the country’s largest uprising in decades spread — and turned deadly.

A source inside Iran who was able to call out told CBS News on Tuesday that activist groups working to compile a full death toll from the protests, based on reports from medical officials across the country, believed the toll was at least 12,000, and possibly as high as 20,000.

As waves of protests have tested the Iranian regime’s ability to manage dissent, the country with arguably the most to gain has been waiting in the wings, reluctant to intervene even when its regional adversary is at its most vulnerable point in years.

Israeli officials have suggested the Trump administration delay large-scale strikes until the Iranian regime is even more strained, while one Arab official said there is “lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood" for American military action in Iran right now.

Iran faces unprecedented protests as citizens unite around overthrowing the Islamic Republic, marking the most serious threat to the regime since 1979.