Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed that authorities will “not back down” in the face of a rapidly growing protest movement, setting the stage for an intensified violent crackdown on the second day of a nationwide internet shutdown.
Protests have swept across Iran for 13 consecutive days, initially triggered by anger over soaring living costs but increasingly marked by calls for the overthrow of the clerical system that has ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The largest demonstrations so far took place late Thursday, when crowds marched through parts of Tehran chanting slogans including “death to the dictator”. Another round of demonstrations was called for Friday night.
At least 50 people have been killed in the violence surrounding protests, while more than 2,270 others have been detained.
In his first public comments on the unrest since January 3, Khamenei struck a defiant tone, dismissing protesters as “vandals” and “saboteurs” in a speech broadcast on state television.
Protesters were “ruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy … because he said he would come to their aid”, Khamenei said – a reference to Donald Trump, who has threatened American intervention in Iran if authorities kill protesters.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said authorities had enforced a “nationwide internet shutdown” for more than 24 hours, describing the move as a violation of Iranians’ rights and an effort to “mask regime violence”.
Amnesty International said the “blanket internet shutdown” appeared aimed at concealing “grave human rights violations and crimes under international law” committed to suppress the protests.
Norway-based group Iran Human Rights said at least 51 protesters, including nine children under 18, have been killed by security forces, revising up an earlier toll of 45. Hundreds more have been injured, it said.
The demonstrations pose one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic in its more than 45 years in power and are the largest since nationwide protests in 2022–2023 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.
Khamenei accused U.S. President Donald Trump of having hands “stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians”, an apparent reference to Israel’s June war with Iran, which Washington supported and joined with its own strikes.
Khamenei predicted the “arrogant” U.S. leader would be “overthrown” like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran before the 1979 revolution.
“Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals destroyed a building that belongs to them to please the U.S. president,” he said, as supporters chanted “death to America”.
“Everyone knows the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people, and it will not back down in the face of saboteurs,” he added.
Trump said late Thursday that enthusiasm to overturn Iran’s leadership was “incredible” and warned that if authorities killed protesters, “we’re going to hit them very hard”.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump suggested the 86-year-old Khamenei might be preparing to leave the country. “He’s looking to go someplace,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking during a visit to Lebanon on Friday, accused Washington and Israel of “directly intervening” to turn “peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones”.
Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the shah overthrown in 1979, urged Trump to intervene in support of protesters, saying “the people will be on the streets again in an hour”.
"Mr. President, this is an urgent and immediate call for your attention, support and action," Reza Pahlavi wrote on social media. "Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran."
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei warned that punishment for “rioters” would be “decisive, the maximum and without any legal leniency”.
State television quoted him as saying a district prosecutor in the eastern town of Esfarayen and several members of the security forces were killed late Thursday during unrest.
The intelligence arm of the Revolutionary Guards said the continuation of the protests was “unacceptable” and that defending the Islamic Republic was its “red line”.
State television also aired footage on Friday showing thousands attending counter-protests in several cities, chanting slogans in support of the authorities.
The Haalvsh human rights group, which focuses on Iran’s Baluch Sunni minority, said security forces opened fire on protesters in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, after Friday prayers, causing an unspecified number of casualties.
Few videos of new protest actions emerged late Friday, with activists citing the internet shutdown as a key obstacle.
In a joint statement, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said security forces have since December 28 “unlawfully used rifles, shotguns loaded with metal pellets, water cannon, tear gas and beatings to disperse, intimidate and punish largely peaceful protesters”.