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

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.

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

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.

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'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.

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.

At least 572 people have been killed as security forces try to quash the unrest, activists say, with the true scale of the crackdown yet to become clear amid an internet blackout.

As the Iranian authorities impose a near-total communication blackout on a country convulsed by mass protests, videos and witness accounts slowly emerging suggest that the government is waging one of its deadliest crackdowns on unrest in more than a decade.

Iranian protests that began Dec. 28 saw security forces shift to live ammunition by January 8, with over 3,000 deaths estimated nationwide.