Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities shut down internet services in an apparent effort to curb the spread of nationwide protests, with phone calls disrupted, flights cancelled and news websites updating only intermittently.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, claiming that those he described as “rioters” were attacking public property. He warned that Tehran would show no tolerance toward individuals he said were behaving as “mercenaries for foreign powers”.
The protests, which began late last month over soaring inflation and worsening living conditions, have spread across the country, though they have not yet reached the scale of unrest seen three years ago. Reports suggest dozens of people have been killed, as authorities face growing pressure from a struggling economy and the aftermath of last year’s conflict involving Israel and the United States.
The Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, a city with a large Baluch minority population, was met with live fire, leaving several people wounded.
Iranian opposition groups abroad, despite deep divisions, called for further demonstrations on Friday. Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah who lives in exile, urged Iranians to take to the streets, saying in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are on you.”
Trump said he would not meet Pahlavi and expressed uncertainty over whether supporting him was appropriate. The United States bombed Iran last summer, and Trump warned last week that Washington might intervene to support protesters.
State media overnight aired images of burning buses, cars and motorcycles, as well as fires at metro stations and banks. Authorities blamed the unrest on the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, an opposition faction that broke with Iran’s leadership after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A state television reporter standing near burning buildings in Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea city of Rasht said the area looked “like a war zone,” adding that all nearby shops had been destroyed.
Videos verified by Reuters showed hundreds of people marching in the capital, Tehran, with one clip capturing a woman chanting “Death to Khamenei.”
While Iran has previously suppressed far larger waves of unrest, analysts say the current situation is compounded by a far weaker economy and increasing international pressure, including the reimposition of sanctions linked to Tehran’s nuclear programme since September.
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