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A violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran has killed at least 648 people, a rights group said on Monday, as Iranian authorities sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies.

The government's call for rallies in support of the Islamic republic drew thousands on Monday, a turnout supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protests, which the authorities attribute to foreign interference, had been defeated.

Rights groups have warned that an internet blackout that the monitor Netblocks says has lasted four days was aimed at masking a deadly crackdown on the protests.

The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed 648 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, and thousands more injuries, but warned the death toll was likely much higher, "according to some estimates, more than 6,000."

IHR added that the internet shutdown made it "extremely difficult to independently verify these reports," saying an estimated 10,000 people had been arrested.

"The international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killing by the Islamic republic," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

The blackout has severely affected Iranians' ability to post videos of the protests, which have rocked big cities since Thursday, but one video geolocated by AFP showed dozens of bodies outside a morgue south of Tehran, with what appeared to be grieving relatives searching for loved ones.

Over two weeks of demonstrations initially sparked by economic grievances have turned into one of the biggest challenges yet to the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the shah.

'Warning' to the US

Khamenei, in power since 1989 and now 86, said in a statement that Monday's pro-government rallies were a "warning" to the United States, after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily if Tehran killed protesters.

"These massive rallies, full of determination, have thwarted the plan of foreign enemies that was supposed to be carried out by domestic mercenaries," he said, according to state TV.

In the capital, Tehran, state TV showed people brandishing the national flag and prayers read for victims of what the government has termed "riots."

At Enghelab (Revolution) Square, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told the crowd that Iran was fighting a "four-front war," listing economic war, psychological war, "military war" with the United States and Israel, and "today a war against terrorists," a reference to the protests.

Flanked by the slogans "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" in Persian, he vowed the Iranian military would teach Trump "an unforgettable lesson" if Iran were attacked.

But Trump said Sunday that Iran's leadership had called him seeking "to negotiate."

And Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a conference of foreign ambassadors in Tehran that Iran was "not seeking war but is fully prepared for war," while calling for "fair" negotiations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said a channel of communication was open between Araghchi and Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, despite the lack of diplomatic relations.

Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies. The government has declared three days of national mourning for those killed.

State outlets were at pains to present a picture of calm returning, broadcasting images of smooth-flowing traffic.

Tehran Governor Mohammad-Sadegh Motamedian insisted in televised comments that "the number of protests is decreasing."

'Respect for their rights'

The European Union has voiced support for the protesters and on Monday said it was "looking into" imposing additional sanctions on Iran over the repression of demonstrations.

The European Parliament also announced it had banned all Iranian diplomats and representatives from the assembly's premises.

The Iranian foreign ministry said it had summoned diplomats in Tehran representing France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, demanding they "withdraw official statements supporting the protesters."

French President Emmanuel Macron, however, issued a statement later Monday condemning "the state violence that indiscriminately targets Iranian women and men who courageously demand respect for their rights."

Tehran ally Russia, for its part, slammed what it called attempts by "foreign powers" to interfere in Iran, state media reported, in Moscow's first reaction to the protests.

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's ousted shah, urged Iran's security forces and government workers to join the protests against the authorities.

"Employees of state institutions, as well as members of the armed and security forces, have a choice: stand with the people and become allies of the nation, or choose complicity with the murderers of the people," he said in a social media post.

AFP