Competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi received a hero's welcome on her return to Tehran Wednesday, after competing in South Korea without wearing a mandatory headscarf required of Iranian female athletes

Media reports warned she may have been forced by Iranian officials to leave early from a competition in South Korea and could face arrest back home, which Tehran quickly denied.

Anti-government demonstrations erupted Saturday in several locations across Iran as the most sustained protests in years against a deeply entrenched theocracy entered their fourth week.

Part of the Bakhtiari people, they live as their ancestors did, migrating between pastures in western and southwestern Iran. Women play a vital role, coping with hardships and persevering.

In separate interviews with NPR, the U.S. special envoy to Iran responds to that country's foreign minister on Iranians' protests over a woman's death, and the state of nuclear negotiations.

Iranian American scholar Pardis Mahdavi was once arrested in Tehran for lecturing about Iran's sexual revolution. She wonders if the country's current wave of protests might result in regime change.

The former U.N. official had been arrested after going to Iran to try to free his son - who remains held there.

President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran had "shortcomings" but said the unrest sparked last month by the death of a woman in the custody of the country's morality police was a plot by Iran's enemies.

The gatherings are an echo of the protests that have erupted in Iran since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country's so-called morality police.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said Sunday it summoned Britain's ambassador to protest what it described as a hostile atmosphere created by London-based Farsi language media outlets.

The move authorizes firms to offer more social media and collaboration platforms, video conferencing and cloud-based services in Iran following a crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour said her interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in New York was abruptly canceled when she refused to wear a headscarf.

An Iranian government spokesperson added that Iran did not "have any other information more than what the American media has reported."

Flooding hit more than 10 villages in the drought-stricken Fars province after heavy rains swelled the Roudbal river, one official said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration has "information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred" drones.