Here are the latest developments on the 11th day of a wave of protests in Iranian cities against economic hardship triggered by price rises and currency collapse:

- New protests -

According to videos published by rights groups on social media, new protests took place at different points in the country on Wednesday with the streets thronged with protesters in some cases.

Norway-based rights group IHR published a video of people massing in the street of Bojnurd in the northeast of the country shouting slogans including "an Iranian can die but will not accept humiliation".

The Tasnim news agency reported that rioters had attacked a mosque and a shop selling religious books.

Another protest was reported in the upscale Shemiran district of Tehran with protesters shouting "death to the dictator" and "freedom", IHR said.

The US-based HRANA group posted a video of a crowd of people demonstrating in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas with people shouting slogans including "don't be spectators join us" and "this is the final battle, Pahlavi will come back", referring to the dynasty of the deposed shah.

Large numbers of protesters also took to the streets in Aligudarz in western Iran with people chanting slogans including "this is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali will be toppled" in reference to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to footage broadcast by the Iran International channel, which is based outside of the country.

Iran's Fars news agency, meanwhile, reported deadly clashes in the country's southwest that killed two people and wounded 30.

Fars said that shopkeepers were protesting in Lordergan when "rioters began throwing stones at the police".

"Among them, there were individuals with military and hunting weapons who suddenly opened fire on the police," the agency added.

It said the two dead were police officers.

Nationwide, protests have spread to 25 of Iran's 31 provinces, according to an AFP tally based on official statements and local media.

- President urges restraint -

In a video released by the news agency Mehr after a cabinet meeting, Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said Pezeshkian had "ordered that no security measures be taken against the demonstrators".

"Those who carry firearms, knives and machetes and who attack police stations and military sites are rioters, and we must distinguish protesters from rioters," Ghaempanah added.

Security forces have now killed at least 27 protesters, including five people under the age of 18, the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Tuesday.

Iranian media outlets, relaying official announcements, have reported 15 deaths, including members of the security forces and a policeman who was shot dead on Tuesday.

- Army boss warns Iran foes -

General Amir Hatami, commander of the Iranian army and one of its most senior military officers, warned Tehran would not tolerate outside threats "without responding".

According to Fars, Hatami said "if the enemy makes a mistake" Iran's response would be more robust than during last June's 12-day war with Israel.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if demonstrators were killed, while Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for the protests.

"We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States," Trump told reporters on Sunday.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, told Israel's cabinet: "We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people and with their aspirations for freedom, liberty and justice."

- Kurdish calls for strike -

Seven Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in Iraq called for a general strike in Iran on Thursday, a leading official from the Komala Party told AFP.

Hassan Rahmanpanah said the goal was "to demonstrate the unified support of the Kurdish people for the struggle and protests being waged by the Iranian people against the Islamic republic".

The separatist Komala Party, based in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan, is banned by Tehran as a terrorist organisation.

Rahmanpanah accused the Iranian authorities of "brutal and criminal attacks" against demonstrators.

Iran's latest protest movement began on December 28 with a strike by traders in a Tehran market for mobile phones.

Since then, demonstrations have spread to the heart of the economy, the capital's Grand Bazaar and several more towns and cities, especially in the west of the country.