Despite Threats, Iranian Protesters Turn Out, Praise Deposed Monarchy
Protesters participate in a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, on Saturday. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Iran’s supreme leader is signaling that he intends to confront the country’s most serious unrest in years with force rather than compromise. In his first public remarks since nationwide protests erupted on Dec. 28, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed demonstrators as “vandals” and foreign-backed “saboteurs,” accusing them of damaging their own cities to satisfy outside powers, including the United States, according to the Guardian.
Despite a widespread communications blackout that has made it difficult to assess the scale of the demonstrations, protests continued over the weekend. Persian-language media outlets based outside Iran shared videos appearing to show large crowds in Tehran, Mashhad, Yazd, and other cities chanting against the Islamic Republic and praising Iran’s former monarchy, the Washington Post reports.
The unrest began after Iran’s currency sharply lost value but has expanded into broader demands for political change, with some crowds chanting slogans such as “death to Khamenei.” President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that his administration is “using all its strength to improve people’s livelihoods” by combating corruption, bribery, and rent-seeking.
Human rights groups report a heavy crackdown. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 72 people have been killed and more than 2,300 detained, figures cited by the Associated Press. Norway-based Iran Human Rights reports that children are among those killed. Amnesty International says the near-total internet shutdown appears aimed at obscuring potential abuses as security forces deploy live ammunition, metal pellets, and motorbike units to disperse crowds. In Zahedan, a city with a large Baloch minority, a local rights group said security forces opened fire on protesters after Friday prayers, wounding several people.
Medical workers told the BBC that hospitals in multiple cities are overwhelmed by casualties. Doctors and witnesses have reported severe injuries, including a surge in eye injuries, prompting at least one specialized hospital in Tehran to enter crisis mode. “I have never seen such scenes in my life,” one medical staffer said in a video shared by IranWire and cited by CNN.
Iranian state media has portrayed the unrest as violent rioting led by “terrorist agents” linked to the United States and Israel. In a televised address Friday, Khamenei accused President Trump of having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians,” as crowds chanted anti-American slogans. He claimed protesters were destroying their own cities to please the U.S. president, saying Trump should focus on problems in his own country, according to CBS News.
President Trump responded Saturday with a message supporting the protesters, writing that Iran is “looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” and that the United States “stands ready to help.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio also voiced U.S. support for what he called “the brave people of Iran.”
Looking ahead, exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi has urged Iranians to continue nightly demonstrations and has publicly appealed for assistance from President Trump. His supporters claim that large numbers of security personnel are prepared to defect, though those assertions cannot be independently verified due to the ongoing blackout.
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