US President Donald Trump issued a warning to leaders of Iran on Friday as videos showed anti-government protests raging across the country, and authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest.
Rights 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.
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week the US could come to the protesters’ aid issued another warning on Friday, saying: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
Donald Trump issues Iran warning
“I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that’s a very dangerous place right now,” he added.
However Trump said on Thursday he was not inclined to meet Reza Pahlavi, the US-based crown prince and son of the late Shah of Iran, a sign that he was waiting to see how the crisis plays out before backing an opposition leader.
In a televised address, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of opposition groups abroad and the United States, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences.
Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology said the decision to shut down the internet was made “by the competent security authorities under the prevailing circumstances of the country.”
Iran protests
The protests pose the biggest internal challenge in at least three years to Iran’s clerical rulers, who look more vulnerable than during past bouts of unrest amid a dire economic situation and after last year’s war with Israel and the United States.
While the initial protests focused on the economy, with the rial losing half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topping 40 per cent in December, they have morphed to include slogans aimed directly at the authorities.
Iranian rights group HRANA said on Friday it had documented at least 62 deaths, including 14 security personnel and 48 protesters, since demonstrations began on December 28.
The leaders of France, Britain and Germany issued a joint statement on Friday condemning the killing of protesters and urged the Iranian authorities to restrain from violence.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations was very disturbed by the loss of life.
“People anywhere in the world have a right to demonstrate peacefully, and governments have a responsibility to protect that right and to ensure that that right is respected,” he said.
The internet blackout has sharply reduced the amount of information flowing out of Iran and phone calls to the country were not getting through. At least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran were cancelled, Dubai Airport’s website showed.
Images published by state television showed what it said were burning buses, cars and motorbikes as well as fires at underground railway stations and banks.
Rights groups
Videos verified by Reuters showed hundreds of people marching in Tehran. In one, a woman could be heard shouting, “Death to Khamenei!”
Other chants included slogans in support of the monarchy, overthrown in 1979.
Iranian rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where the Baluch minority predominates, was met with gunfire that wounded several people.
Iran has weathered repeated past bouts of major unrest, including student protests in 1999, over a disputed election in 2009, against economic hardships in 2019, and the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
