Iranians staged their biggest protests yet in an almost two-week movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, chanting slogans including “death to the dictator” and setting fire to official buildings, videos showed on Friday, despite Iran’s theocracy cutting off the country from the internet and international telephone calls.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted protesters in a speech aired Friday by state television, in which he said that Islamic republic 'will not back down' in face of 'saboteurs.'
The 86-year-old paramount ruler of Iran said that protesters are “ruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy,” referring to US President Donald Trump.
The son of the shah of Iran ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, US-based Reza Pahlavi, who had called for major protests Thursday, meanwhile urged a new show of force in the streets on Friday.
The protests also represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by the crown prince.
Iranian state media also alleged that protesters were “terrorist agents” of the US and Israel who had set fires and sparked violence and said there were “casualties”, without elaborating.
Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah — something that in the past could have carried a death sentence — underlining the anger fuelling protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy.
Internet monitor Netblocks said authorities had imposed a total connectivity blackout late on Thursday and added early on Friday that the country had “now been offline for 12 hours… in an attempt to suppress sweeping protests.”
So far, violence linked to the demonstrations has killed at least 42 people, while more than 2,270 others have been detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Short online videos shared by activists purported to show protesters chanting against Iran’s government around bonfires as debris littered streets in the capital, Tehran, and elsewhere. The crowd could be heard chanting “death to the dictator” in reference to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled the Islamic republic since 1989.
Other videos showed significant protests in several cities, including Tabriz in the north, the holy city of Mashhad in the east, and the Kurdish-populated west, including the regional hub of Kermanshah.
Several videos said protesters had set fire to the entrance of the regional branch of state television in the central city of Isfahan. It was not immediately possible to verify the images. Flames were also seen at the governor’s building in Shazand, the capital of Markazi province in central Iran, after protesters gathered outside, other videos showed.
The full scope of the demonstrations could not be immediately determined because of the communications blackout, though they represented a further escalation of protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy and have since morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in several years.
The protests have intensified steadily since beginning on 28 December. Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday night, similarly has called for demonstrations at 8 pm Friday.
“What turned the tide of the protests was former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s calls for Iranians to take to the streets at 8 pm on Thursday and Friday,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Per social media posts, it became clear that Iranians had delivered and were taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic Republic.”
“This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests. Unfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.”
Thursday night protests preceded internet shutdown
When the clock struck 8 pm Thursday, neighborhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said. The chants included “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!”
Others praised the shah, shouting: “This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” Thousands could be seen on the streets before all communication to Iran cut out.
“Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication,” Pahlavi said. “It has shut down the Internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.”
He went on to call for European leaders to join US President Donald Trump in promising to “hold the regime to account.”
“I call on them to use all technical, financial, and diplomatic resources available to restore communication to the Iranian people so that their voice and their will can be heard and seen,” he added.
“Do not let the voices of my courageous compatriots be silenced.”
Pahlavi had said he would offer further plans depending on the response to his call. His support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war Israel waged on Iran in June.
Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some demonstrations, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The internet cut also appears to have taken Iran’s state-run and semiofficial news agencies offline as well. The state TV acknowledgment at 8 am Friday represented the first official word about the demonstrations.
State TV claimed the protests saw violence that caused casualties but did not elaborate.
It also said the protests saw “people’s private cars, motorcycles, public places such as the metro, fire trucks and buses set on fire.”
Trump renews threat over protester deaths
Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years.
As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after the 12-day war, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to $1. Protests began soon after, with demonstrators chanting against Iran’s theocracy.
It remains unclear why Iranian officials have yet to crack down harder on the demonstrators. Trump warned last week that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” America “will come to their rescue.”
In an interview with talk show host Hugh Hewitt aired Thursday, Trump reiterated his pledge.
Iran has “been told very strongly, even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now, that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” Trump said.
Trump demurred when asked if he’d meet with Pahlavi.
“I’m not sure that it would be appropriate at this point to do that as president,” Trump said. “I think that we should let everybody go out there, and we see who emerges.”
Speaking in an interview with Sean Hannity aired Thursday night on Fox News, Trump went as far as to suggest 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be looking to leave Iran.
“He's looking to go someplace,” Trump said. “It's getting very bad.”
(With inputs from AP and AFP)
