Supreme Leader Khamenei calls for unity amid protests, labelling demonstrators as foreign agents serving US interests
\n Tehran
\nUnited States President Donald Trump says Iran is in \u201cbig trouble\u201d and again warned he could order military strikes as videos showed antigovernment protests raging across the country, and authorities blacked out the internet to restrain growing unrest.
\n\u201cIran\u2019s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,\u201d Trump said on Friday.
\nTrump, who bombed Iran in June and warned Tehran last week the US could come to the protesters\u2019 aid, issued another warning, saying: \u201cYou better not start shooting because we\u2019ll start shooting too.\u201d
\nRights groups have documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks, and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.
\n\u201cI just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that\u2019s a very dangerous place right now,\u201d Trump added.
\nIn an address broadcast on Iranian state TV earlier on Friday, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for \u201cunity\u201d in the face of \u201cterrorist actions\u201d as mass protests continue to rock the country.
\nKhamenei warned against the protests, which the authorities have framed as a plot by foreign enemies, primarily the US, and reiterated a threat that authorities will crack down on the unrest.
\nKhamenei accused the protesters of acting on behalf of President Trump, saying rioters were attacking public property and warning that \u200dTehran would not tolerate people acting as \u201cmercenaries for foreigners\u201d. He accused Trump of having hands \u201cstained with the blood\u201d of Iranians.
\nAt least 62 people have been killed, including 14 security personnel and 48 protesters, since demonstrations began on December 28, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), an overseas-based Iranian rights group.
\nWhile President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for restraint and for the state to listen to \u201cgenuine\u201d grievances, other voices have warned that the authorities will show no leniency, noting that the protests have received support from \u201cforeign foes\u201d.
\nReporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi said \u201cmany citizens in Tehran\u201d had received messages from police asking them to avoid going to \u201clocations where violence erupts\u201d.
\n\u201cThis is the latest that we heard from the police, and officials are saying that the government is going \u2026 to be very strict, very decisive when it comes to acting against rioters,\u201d he said.
\nIranian rights group Hengaw reported on Friday that a protest march in Zahedan, which is dominated by the Baluch minority group, was met with gunfire that wounded several people. Protesters had taken to the streets after Friday prayers.
\nThe protests over economic hardship were set off by Tehran shopkeepers angered by a sharp slide in the rial\u2019s value.
\nAuthorities cut off internet access on Thursday in an apparent move to suppress the protest movement. The blackout was maintained on Friday, while the phone system was also down, and airlines cancelled flights in and out of the country.
\nInternet freedom monitor Netblocks confirmed on Friday that the blackout has lasted more than 24 hours, with \u201cconnectivity flatlining at 1 percent of ordinary levels\u201d.
\nDespite the blackout, activists still managed to post videos online, which purported to show protesters chanting against the government around bonfires as debris littered the streets in the capital, Tehran, and other areas.<\/p>\n
Israel and US accused of fuelling protests
\nIranian state media alleged on Friday that \u201cterrorist agents\u201d of the US and Israel had set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were \u201ccasualties\u201d, without elaborating.
\nIran\u2019s foreign minister also accused the US and Israel of fuelling a growing protest movement in the country, while dismissing the possibility of direct foreign military intervention after US warnings over crackdowns on demonstrators.
\n\u201cThis is what the Americans and Israelis have stated, that they are directly intervening in the protests in Iran,\u201d said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a visit to Lebanon.
\n\u201cThey are trying to transform the peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cregarding the possibility of seeing military intervention against Iran, we believe there is a low possibility of this because their previous attempts were total failures\u201d.
\nA US Department of State spokesperson said that the foreign minister\u2019s comments were \u201cdelusional\u201d.
\n\u201cThis statement reflects a delusional attempt to deflect from the massive challenges the Iranian regime faces at home,\u201d the spokesperson said.
\nAlso on Friday, Iran\u2019s self-proclaimed \u201cCrown Prince\u201d Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the country\u2019s late shah, who was toppled by the Islamic revolution of 1979, appealed to Trump on social media to stage an urgent intervention.
\n\u201cI 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,\u201d he wrote, referring to Thursday\u2019s protests.
\n\u201cYour threat to this criminal regime has also kept the regime\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.
\nHowever, Trump on Thursday ruled out meeting with Pahlavi, a sign that he was waiting to see how the crisis plays out before backing an opposition leader.
\nIt is unclear how much support Pahlavi has inside Iran. But Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Associated Press news agency that his calls for demonstrations had \u201cturned the tide\u201d of the protests, adding that social media posts show that Iranians \u201cwere taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic Republic\u201d.
\n\u201cThis is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests,\u201d she continued. \u201cUnfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.\u201d
\nKhamenei said in his TV address that protesters are \u201cruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy\u201d, in a reference to Trump.
\nAn audience was heard chanting, \u201cDeath to America!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supreme Leader Khamenei calls for unity amid protests, labelling demonstrators as foreign agents serving US interests Tehran United States President Donald Trump says Iran is in \u201cbig trouble\u201d and again warned he could order military strikes as videos showed antigovernment protests raging across the country, and authorities blacked out the internet to restrain growing unrest. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n