TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian&nbsp;warned that an attack on the country&#39;s supreme leader would be a declaration of war &mdash; an apparent response to US counterpart Donald Trump saying it was time to look for new leadership in Iran. Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said on Sunday, 10 days into a communications blackout.<div class="fr-embed"> Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years. Monitor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/internet-connectivity-in-iran-improves-slightly-netblocks" style="color:#0073e6;">Netblocks</a>&nbsp;said late on Sunday that &quot;traffic levels have fallen after a brief, heavily filtered restoration of select Google and messaging services in Iran.&quot; Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into &quot;riots&quot; and blamed foreign influence from Iran&#39;s arch-foes, the United States and Israel. Trump, who joined Israel&#39;s 12-day war against Iran in June, had repeatedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-protest-movement-subsides-as-white-house-says-all-options-on-table-for-trump" style="color:#0073e6;">threatened</a>&nbsp;new military action against Tehran if protesters were killed. While Washington appeared to have stepped back, Trump hit out at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with Politico on Saturday, saying it was &quot;time to look for new leadership in Iran.&quot; &quot;The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,&quot; Trump said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday warned on X: &quot;An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.&quot; As leaders in Washington and Tehran have exchanged barbs, Iranian officials have said calm has been restored in the streets. Security forces with armoured vehicles and motorcycles were seen in central Tehran, according to AFP correspondents. &#39;Cannot just stay silent&#39;&nbsp;Schools reopened on Sunday after a week of closure. Pezeshkian, meanwhile, told a cabinet meeting that he &quot;recommended to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council that internet restrictions be lifted as soon as possible.&quot; Some users reported access to WhatsApp, while outgoing international calls had resumed since Tuesday, and text messaging was restored on Saturday. Fars News Agency on Sunday reported that the chief executive of Irancell, Iran&#39;s second-largest mobile phone operator, was dismissed for failing to comply with the government&#39;s decision to shut down the internet. Solidarity demonstrations have continued in multiple cities in recent days, including in Berlin, London, and Paris. &#39;Not be spared&#39;&nbsp;On Saturday, Khamenei said &quot;a few thousand&quot; people had been killed by what he called &quot;agents&quot; of the United States and Israel, and Iranian local media have reported multiple deaths among security forces. Khamenei said authorities &quot;must break the back of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/irans-khamenei-says-authorities-must-break-the-back-of-the-seditionists" style="color:#0073e6;">seditionists</a>,&quot; as local media have reported thousands of arrests, and rights groups have estimated up to 20,000 people have been detained. On Sunday, judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir reiterated that swift trials would be held, warning that some acts warranted the capital offence of &quot;moharebeh,&quot; or &quot;waging war against God.&quot; &quot;All those who played a decisive role in these calls for violence, which led to bloodshed and significant damage to public finances, will not be spared,&quot; he said. Alarm has grown over the threat of capital punishment against arrested protesters, even as Trump said Iran had called off hundreds of executions. Analyst Arif Keskin cast doubt on Trump&#39;s claim, saying &quot;the Iranian leadership sees executions... as an effective tool to end protests, prevent them and suppress them&quot;. </div>

Central Asia

Pezeshkian tells the cabinet meeting that he "recommended to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council that internet restrictions be lifted as soon as possible"; Supreme Leader Khamenei says authorities "must break the back of the seditionists"; Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into "riots," blaming foreign influence.
 


Iran president says any attack on supreme leader would be declaration of war

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Iranians from all walks of life have begun nationwide rallies to denounce recent foreign-backed riots, demonstrating their support for the Islamic Republic, state-run Press TV reported on Monday. The rallies in most provinces, including Tehran, will begin on Monday at 2 p.m. local time. However, some other provinces have started the rallies at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. &lsquo;Proof of unity &lsquo;Several officials described the nationwide demonstrations as &ldquo;proof of unity&rdquo;, which secures the nation&rsquo;s resilience. While stating that some shopkeepers last week staged limited street protests in several Iranian cities over economic instability, the state media report said that the demonstrations were steered toward violence after public statements by US and Israeli figures, amplified by Israeli-linked Persian-language outlets, encouraged vandalism and disorder. The report said that the authorities have acknowledged the legitimacy of peaceful economic grievances and vowed to address them. &lsquo;Will not back down against vandals&rsquo;The report blamed &ldquo;foreign-backed elements&rdquo; for exploiting concerns over rising living costs and the depreciation of the national currency, which it said is directly linked to unilateral US sanctions targeting Iran&rsquo;s central bank and oil exports. The Iranian authorities have declared that perpetrators of the latest unrest are &ldquo;backed by the United States and the Israeli regime&rdquo;. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced support for protesters and warned&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-iran-want-to-negotiate-and-meeting-being-set-up" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Washington could attack Iran</a>&nbsp;if what he called &ldquo;peaceful protesters&rdquo; were harmed, while former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has issued statements alluding to Mossad involvement and separatist plots, Press TV reported. The rallies came as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Friday that the state &ldquo;will not back down against vandals,&rdquo; urging unity and reiterating that a united nation can overcome any enemy.&nbsp; &lsquo;Legitimate targets&rsquo;Tehran Governor Mohammad-Sadegh Motamedian insisted in televised comments that &ldquo;the number of protests is decreasing&rdquo;, AFP reported. The Iranian government on Sunday declared three days of national mourning for &ldquo;martyrs&rdquo; including members of the security forces killed. President Masoud Pezeshkian also urged Iranians to join a &ldquo;national resistance march&rdquo; Monday to denounce the violence. In response to Trump&#39;s repeated threats to intervene, Iran&#39;s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would hit back, calling US military and shipping &ldquo;legitimate targets&rdquo; in comments broadcast by state TV.

Middle East

While stating that some shopkeepers last week staged limited street protests in several Iranian cities over economic instability, a state media report says the demonstrations were steered toward violence after public statements by US and Israeli figures.

Articles tagged with "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei"

Iran president says any attack on supreme leader would be declaration of war

Iranians begin nationwide rallies to condemn ‘foreign-backed riots': State media