The top photos of the day by AP's photojournalists

From front-page news to powerful moments you may have missed, this gallery showcases today’s top photos chosen by Associated Press photo editors.

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A boy sells balloons as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Racegoers pose for photographs wearing colorful hats on the first day of the Royal Ascot horse race meeting at Ascot, England, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One en route from Calgary, Canada to Joint Base Andrews, Md., late Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Relatives attend the funeral of four members of the Khatib family, Palestinian citizens of Israel killed in an Iranian missile strike on Tamra, Israel, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A supporter of Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez uses a boom to paste a photo of her on the wall outside her home after the nation's Supreme Court upheld Fernandez's corruption conviction in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Inter Milan's Benjamin Pavard, right, and Monterrey's German Berterame battle for the ball during the Club World Cup group E soccer match between CF Monterrey and Inter Milan in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

An Indigenous man protests against the auction of dozens of oil blocks, including blocks near the mouth of the Amazon River, in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Protesters gesture in-front of a burning motorcycle during a demonstration over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Britain's Jack Draper tries to prevent himself from from running into the net after returning to Jenson Brooksby of the United States during their men's singles match at the Queen's Club grass court tennis championships in London, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

Family members and relatives of Akash Patni, victim of the Air India plane crash, grieve during his funeral procession in Ahmedabad, India, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

An Icelandic mare and her foal stand on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A father cries as his son is under the rubble of a multi-storey residential house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Rescuers run to a shelter to hide from an air raid during a Russian missile and drone barrage in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia's massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents outside federal immigration court on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, 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.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)