Screenshot obtained from a social media video posted on Friday shows protesters gathering as vehicles burn amid evolving anti-government unrest in Tehran. Photo: AFP
LONDON/PARIS:
Iran plunged into a near-total internet blackout on Friday as authorities moved to quell the biggest wave of anti-government protests in more than a decade, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei striking a defiant tone, insisting the Islamic republic “will not back down” despite growing unrest.
Crowds chanting anti-government slogans marched through major cities Thursday night, torching official buildings and openly calling for an end to the country’s theocratic rule, turning an initially economic protest movement into one of the most serious challenges to the state in its 46-year history.
Internet monitoring group Netblocks said authorities imposed a complete connectivity blackout, adding that Iran had been offline for 12 hours “in an attempt to suppress widespread protests.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the latest developments exposed “a regime that fears its own people.”
In his first remarks since protests escalated on Jan. 3, Khamenei called protesters “vandals” and “saboteurs,” accusing the United States of inciting unrest. He said US President Donald Trump’s hands were “stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians.”
“Everyone knows that the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people, it will not back down in the face of saboteurs,” Khamenei declared on state television, as his supporters chanted “death to America” during the speech.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the enthusiasm to overthrow Iran’s leadership was “unbelievable” and warned that if protesters were killed, “we will hit them very hard.” He also suggested that Khamenei might be thinking about leaving Iran.
The protests were the largest since the 2022-23 nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Human rights groups reported clashes across the country, with the Haalvsh organization claiming that security forces opened fire on protesters in Zahedan after Friday prayers.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 45 people had died, while BBC Persian separately verified the deaths and the identities of 22 people. Videos showed large demonstrations in Tabriz, Mashhad, Kermanshah and other cities, including Kurdish-populated western Iran.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council accused Israel of backing the protests, saying the unrest that began with economic demands, “under Israeli direction and planning, had become an attempt to create disorder in the country,” as multiple flights to Tehran were cancelled.
The Revolutionary Guards warned that the situation was “unacceptable” and that protecting the revolution was their “red line”, while the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said the punishment of the “troublemakers” would be “decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency”.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Washington and Israel of “directly intervening” to turn peaceful protests violent, while Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said security forces had illegally used live ammunition, metal pellets, tear gas and beatings since protests broke out on December 28.
