WATCH: Massive fire breaks out in Tehran shopping center amid protests

Firefighting teams arrived at the scene, attempting to extinguish the fire, which caused large pillars of smoke to rise into the air in the west of the capital.

Video footage shared by London-based anti-regime outlet Iran International appears to show hundreds of bystanders looking on as firefighters attempt to control the blaze.

There were approximately 200 stores that were operating inside the center, according to a fire department spokesperson, cited by Iran International.

The fire appears to have started in a 2,000-square-meter shed, Iran International cited the Tehran Fire Department as saying.

It remains unclear if the fire was linked to arson or protest activity, which has been reported nationwide for the past 38 days, or if it was accidental in nature.

Soltani is from Fardis, a city approximately 25 miles west of Tehran. He was charged with "assembly and collusion against the country's internal security," and anti-regime "propaganda activities," according to state broadcaster IRIB.

The US State Department and one of Soltani's relatives claimed that authorities planned to execute him, but Iran's judiciary dismissed this as "fabricated news."

Traders at Tehran's Grand Bazaar called for intensified nationwide protests later this month to mark the 40th day since the peak of the protests on January 8-9, when a large number of deaths are reported to have happened, Iran International reported.

The protests, slated to be held on February 17 and 18, are slated to include gatherings from noon until late into the night.

At least 6,854 people have been confirmed to have died during the 37 days of protest activity, as of Monday night, according to data released by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Tuesday.

Out of these, 6,430 were protesters, and 152 were "children under 18."

At least 11,280 additional possible deaths are under investigation by HRANA.

During the 37 days of protests, at least 50,235 arrests have been recorded, including 106 student arrests, 303 forced confessions, and 11,046 summonses, HRANA added, noting that protests have occured at 666 locations across 2,098 cities in all 31 provinces across the country.

Meanwhile, Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi issued a call for mass demonstrations across the globe on February 14, designating the date as a "Global Day of Action" in support of what he termed Iran's "Lion-and-Sun Revolution."

In a statement posted Monday on X/Twitter, the exiled opposition leader called on Iranians abroad and supporters worldwide to gather in major cities to pressure the international community into taking concrete action against the Islamic Republic.

Several protesters have been arrested in recent days, according to data shared by Hengaw on Monday.

This includes at least 16 members of the Kurdish ethnic minority, one of whom was a teenager, the human rights organization reported.

At least three other minors have also been detained in recent days by authorities, Hengaw's data showed.

Hengaw on Monday also highlighted that two women from the Lor ethnic minority were killed during protests in Baharestan, Isfahan Province, "informed sources" told Hengaw. The two were killed on January 9, the sources claimed.

Agents of the Iranian regime are "forcibly injecting detainees with unknown substances," the US-based National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) reported on Monday.

"Several suspicious in-custody deaths have been reported so far, with many detainees being denied any sort of medical care," NUFDI wrote on X.

Additionally, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij paramilitary staff have begun to raid schools in the country and have threatened students into staying away from protests and other anti-regime gatherings and activities, NUFDI claimed.

"The regime is continuing to force Iranians into silence," NUFDI accused.

Rights groups and activists have raised an alarm about pressure reportedly being placed on medical staff who have been treating injured protesters, Iran International reported on Monday.

At least 32 medical staff members have been detained, with doctors from at least five cities having been arrested or gone missing, multiple sources told the outlet.

Iran Medical Council chief, Mohammad Raiszadeh, confirmed that 17 members of the organization have faced "judicial or security cases" linked to the protests, but insisted that none have been prosecuted for providing medical treatment to protesters, Iran International cited.

However, Kayhan, another UK-based outlet, reported that two doctors were arrested in Qazvin for treating injured protesters, with their whereabouts remaining unknown as of Monday.

Video footage shared by Iran International appears to show women identifying themselves as Afghan, issuing statements of solidarity with Iranian anti-regime protesters.

One of the women shown in the footage burns an image showing both Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population of over 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January.

"These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organizing, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with networks abroad," Yazd's police commander Ahmad Negahban was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Iranian media reported on Monday the arrest of four foreigners in Tehran over last month's unrest, a shift from earlier reports announcing daily arrests of suspected protest ringleaders without pointing to foreign nationals.