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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency gave the new figure, saying arrests reached more than 2,600 people as well. With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad grew more difficult, but the agency was accurate in multiple rounds of unrest previously.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran's attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an "enemy of God" — a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who "helped rioters" would face the charge.

"Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country," the statement read. "Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence."

U.S. President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that "Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!"

The State Department warned: "Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he'll do something, he means it."

"The United States supports the brave people of Iran," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media. 

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the "Epic of Khorramshahr" by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. It also aired video of purported protesters shooting at security forces with firearms.

"Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night," a state TV anchor reported Saturday morning. "After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people's private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night."

That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

"Death to Khamenei!" a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard's all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained almost 200 people belonging to what it described as "operational terrorist teams." It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

Iran's theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to "claim public spaces as your own."

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel drew criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn't clear whether that's support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Online video purported to show protests ongoing Saturday night, as well.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $1 in U.S. currency, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

Airlines canceled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, concern is growing that the internet shutdown will allow Iran's security forces to go on a bloody crackdown, as they have in other rounds of demonstrations.