PARIS: Anti-government chants filled the streets of Iran&#39;s capital on Saturday night, as protesters pressed the biggest movement against the Islamic Republic in more than three years despite a crackdown under the cover of an internet blackout. Iran has blamed the United States for the demonstrations, which ignited in Tehran two weeks ago over economic hardship and have since spread nationwide with calls for ousting the clerical authorities. US &lsquo;ready to help&rsquo;Rights groups have reported dozens of deaths and expressed alarm on Saturday that authorities were intensifying the crackdown. Little information is filtering out after an internet shutdown, with monitor NetBlocks showing virtually no connectivity since Thursday. US President Donald Trump said his country was &quot;ready to help&quot; the movement, after warning Iran was in &quot;big trouble&quot; over its efforts to suppress the protests. &quot;Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!&quot; Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday. Possible military strikes&nbsp;According to the New York Times, Trump was recently briefed on options for possible military strikes. US officials, speaking to the Times anonymously, said Trump has not yet made a final decision about another intervention, after Washington joined Israel&#39;s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June. Crowds gathered again on Saturday in the north of the Iranian capital, setting off fireworks and banging pots as they shouted slogans in support of the ousted monarchy, according to video verified by AFP. Other videos, that AFP could not immediately verify, showed demonstrations in other parts of the capital where protesters shouted anti-government slogans. Shah&rsquo;s son calls for targeted protests&nbsp;Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran&#39;s deposed shah, urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests over the weekend. &quot;Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centers,&quot; Pahlavi said in a video on social media. The demonstrations have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. &lsquo;Vandals&rsquo; doing Trump&rsquo;s bidding&nbsp;After initially calling for &quot;restraint&quot; and acknowledging economic grievances, they have since hardened their stance. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a defiant speech on Friday, lashed out at &quot;vandals&quot; doing Trump&#39;s bidding. Amnesty International said it was analysing &quot;distressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters&quot; since Thursday. Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has said at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far, warning the actual toll could be higher. It posted images it said were of bodies of people shot dead in the protests on the floor of Alghadir hospital in eastern Tehran. &quot;These images provide further evidence of the excessive and lethal use of force against protesters,&quot; IHR said. Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north, and the holy city of Qom. In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a Shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun. Iranian embassy in London&nbsp;The same flag briefly flew over the country&#39;s embassy in London after protesters reached the building&#39;s balcony, witnesses told AFP. On Thursday and Friday, an AFP journalist in Tehran saw streets deserted and plunged into darkness. &quot;The area is not safe,&quot; said a cafe manager as he prepared to close the shop around 4:00 pm. &lsquo;Enemy seeking to disrupt order&rsquo;&nbsp;Authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed, and state television aired images on Saturday of funerals for several members of the security forces killed in the protests, including a large gathering in the southern city of Shiraz. It also aired images of buildings, including a mosque, on fire. Iran&#39;s army said in a statement that it would &quot;vigorously protect and safeguard national interests&quot; against an &quot;enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace&quot;. Global leaders have urged restraint from Iranian authorities, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen saying Europe backed Iranians&#39; mass protests and condemned the &ldquo;violent repression&rdquo; against the demonstrators.&nbsp;

Middle East

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a speech on Friday, lashed out at ‘vandals’ doing Trump's bidding; Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's deposed shah, urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests over the weekend.

Fresh protests in Iran as internet blackout persists

TEHRAN: Security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters in Iran as people angered by the economic situation in the country kept up their challenge to the authorities and the exiled opposition Thursday urged them to step up their actions. The 12 days of protests have shaken the authorities already battling economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering after the June war against Israel. The movement, which originated with a shutdown on the Tehran bazaar on December 28 after the rial plunged to record lows, has spread nationwide and is now being marked by larger scale demonstrations. Authorities have blamed unrest on &quot;rioters&quot; and the judiciary chief has vowed there would be &quot;no leniency&quot; in bringing them to justice. On Wednesday, an Iranian police officer was stabbed to death near Tehran &quot;during efforts to control unrest&quot;, the Iranian Fars news agency said. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and a key exiled opposition figure, said that the turnout during Wednesday&#39;s protests had been &quot;unprecedented&quot; and called for major new protests Thursday evening. He said in a message on social media he had received reports the &quot;regime is deeply frightened and is attempting, once again, to cut off the internet&quot; to thwart the protests. The HRANA monitor published a video of protesters in Kuhchenar in the southern Fars province cheering overnight as they pulled down a statue of the former foreign operations commander of the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani who was killed in a US strike in January 2020 and is hailed as a national hero by the government. HRANA said according to its count protests had taken place in 348 locations over the last 11 days in all of Iran&#39;s 31 provinces. It also published a video of people massing late at night in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and lighting fires in the streets and also images of security forces using tear gas to disperse a protest in the Caspian Sea town of Tonekabon. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said security forces on Wednesday &quot;opened fire on protesters, used tear gas and violently assaulted civilians&quot; during a protest in the key southeastern hub of Kerman. The protests are being characterized by larger-scale demonstrations, with hundreds marching through a main avenue in the northeastern city of Bojnord on Wednesday in a video verified by AFP. Demonstrators are repeating slogans against the Iranian leadership including &quot;this is the final battle, Pahlavi will return&quot; and &quot;Seyyed Ali will be toppled&quot;, in reference to Iran&rsquo;s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. IHR said on Tuesday at least 27 protesters including five teenagers under the age of 18, have been confirmed to have been killed in a crackdown on the protests, warning the death toll will climb as more killings are verified.

The 12 days of protests have shaken the authorities already battling economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering after the June war against Israel.

Iran protests intensify amid economic crisis and mounting deaths

TEHRAN: Iran&#39;s intelligence ministry has warned of attempts by foreign adversaries, including the United States and Israel, to target supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and destabilize the Islamic Republic.&nbsp;The country&#39;s ISNA news agency reported on Saturday that intelligence minister Esmail Khatib cautioned, &quot;the enemy seeks to target the supreme leader, sometimes with assassination attempts, sometimes with hostile attacks&quot;.&nbsp;While it was not immediately clear if the minister was referring to a specific incident, and Iranian officials often allege foreign plots, statements on threats against Khamenei&#39;s life had been rare prior to a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.&nbsp;&quot;Those who act in this direction, knowingly or unknowingly, are the infiltrating agents of the enemy,&quot; Khatib added, referring directly to Israel and the United States.&nbsp;During the conflict earlier this year, Israel targeted senior Iranian military officials, nuclear scientists, and sites as well as residential areas, with the US later joining with strikes on key nuclear facilities.&nbsp;Asked about reports during the war that US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader out of concern it would escalate the Iran-Israel showdown, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was dismissive but said the move would &quot;end the conflict&quot;.&nbsp;At the time, Trump had also said that Iran&#39;s supreme leader was a &quot;very easy target&quot; and that &quot;we are not going to take him out, at least not for now.&quot;&nbsp;He later said in a post on Truth Social he had saved Iran&#39;s supreme leader from &quot;A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH&quot;.&nbsp;The 86-year-old Khamenei has been Iran&#39;s supreme leader since 1989 and has the final say on all state affairs.&nbsp;Earlier this month, Iran&#39;s President Masoud Pezeshkian said he was particularly concerned for Khamenei&#39;s life during the war and feared that the country&#39;s institutions &quot;would start fighting among each other.&quot;&nbsp;In July, Khamenei said Israel&#39;s attacks during the war were intended to weaken the Islamic Republic, sow &quot;unrest and bring people into the streets to overthrow the system&quot;.&nbsp;A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24, but both Israel and the United States have threatened new strikes if Tehran revives its nuclear programme.

Asia

Iran’s intelligence minister warned that the US and Israel seek to target Supreme Leader Khamenei. Amid past war-related threats and alleged plots, officials voiced concerns over internal stability, while Israel and the US caution against Iran reviving its nuclear program.

Articles tagged with "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei"

Fresh protests in Iran as internet blackout persists

Iran protests intensify amid economic crisis and mounting deaths

Iran warns of attempts to target supreme leader Khamenei

Fresh protests in Iran as internet blackout persists