Gunshots and explosions were heard as a huge fire broke out in Iran most notorious prison used to house political prisoners and anti-government activists.

As the Iranian regime faces mass protests over the death of a young woman at the hands of the morality police, a huge blaze engulfed Tehran's Evin prison, where British prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was previously held.

Demonstrators chanted "death to the dictator" in protests, which broke out on the streets surrounding the prison.

State news agency IRNA said eight people were injured in the unrest, which erupted after nearly a month of protests across Iran over the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman over strict hijab rules.

The protests have posed one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, with demonstrations spreading across the country and some people chanting for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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