WASHINGTON: The exiled son of Iran's late shah on Friday appealed to US President Donald Trump to intervene urgently as protests persisted in the Islamic republic.
"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."
Pahlavi, who lives in the Washington area, did not specify the intervention he was seeking but pointed both to an internet blackout and the threat of the use of force against protesters.
"I have called the people to the streets to fight for their freedom and to overwhelm the security forces with sheer numbers. Last night they did that," he wrote.
"Your threat to this criminal regime has also kept the regime's thugs at bay. But time is of the essence. The people will be on the streets again in an hour. I am asking you to help."
Trump, who ordered bombing last year of Iranian nuclear sites in coordination with Israel, has threatened military action if authorities kill protesters who have taken to the streets in mass protests initially triggered by concerns over the cost of living.
Iran signaled Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters, directly challenging U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to support those peacefully demonstrating as the death toll rose to at least 62.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television. State media later repeatedly referred to demonstrators as “terrorists,” setting the stage for a violent crackdown like those that followed other nationwide protests in recent years.
Protesters are “ruining their own streets ... in order to please the president of the United States,” the 86-year-old Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. “Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters “will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.”
There was no immediate response from Washington, though Trump has repeated his pledge to strike Iran if protesters are killed, a threat that's taken on greater significance after the U.S. military raid that seized Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.
