Violence reported across Iran as government signals crackdown on protests
SOURCE:ABC Australia
Anti-government chants filled the streets of Iran's capital on Saturday night, as protesters pressed the biggest movement against the Islamic republic's rulers in more than three years.
Anti-government chants filled the streets of Iran's capital on Saturday night, as protesters pressed the biggest movement against the Islamic republic's rulers in more than three years despite a deadly clampdown under the cover of an internet blackout.
Iran's authorities have indicated they could intensify their crackdown on the demonstrations, as the Revolutionary Guards vow to safeguard the government.
The two weeks of demonstrations have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States.
Thousands of protesters have gathered on the streets of Tehran as unrest continues across Iran. (Social media via Reuters)
There were fresh reports of violence across Iran, although an internet blackout made it difficult to assess the full extent of unrest.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday his country was "ready to help" the movement, a day after warning Iran was in "big trouble" and reiterating that he could order new military action after Washington backed and joined Israel's 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June.
"Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The demonstrations began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $US1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions, in part levied over its nuclear program.
The protests have swelled and turned to ousting the clerical authorities.
Crowds gathered again on Saturday in the north of the Iranian capital Tehran, setting off fireworks and banging pots as they shouted slogans in support of the ousted monarchy, according to video verified by news agency AFP.
Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's deposed shah, had urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests on Saturday and Sunday after hailing mass protests on Friday.
"Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres," he said in a video message on social media.
Iranian authorities had called for "restraint" and announced measures to try to address grievances in the days after protests broke out on December 28, but hardened their line as they persisted.
Rights groups expressed alarm that authorities were intensifying a deadly crackdown under the cover of an internet blackout that has lasted 48 hours, according to monitor Netblocks.
Death toll grows amid crackdown: reports
The death toll in the protests has grown to at least 72 people, and more than 2,300 others have been detained, according to the US-based group Human Rights Activists in Iran.
Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying authorities as in control over the nation.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the US for protests against the country's clerical rulers. (Reuters: West Asia News Agency/Handout)
Tehran escalated its threats on Saturday, as Iran's Attorney-General Mohammad Movahedi Azad warned that anyone taking part in protests would be considered an "enemy of God", a death penalty charge.
The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who "helped rioters" would face the charge.
"Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country," the statement read.
"Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence."
Amnesty International said it was analysing "distressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters" since Thursday.
Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest, "so we can only fear the worst".
"They are fighting, and losing their lives, against a dictatorial regime,"
Mr Rahmani said.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group posted images it said were of bodies of people shot dead in the protests on the floor of Alghadir hospital in eastern Tehran.
"These images provide further evidence of the excessive and lethal use of force against protesters," IHR said.
On Friday in Tehran's Saadatabad district, protesters chanted anti-government slogans including "death to Khamenei" as cars honked in support, a video verified by AFP showed.
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.
The nationwide protests started in Tehran in late December, spreading to other cities. (AFP: Middle East Images)
In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun amid fires and people dancing.
The same flag briefly replaced the current Iranian flag over the country's embassy in London, when protesters managed to reach the building's balcony, witnesses told AFP.
On Thursday and Friday, an AFP journalist in Tehran saw streets deserted and plunged into darkness ahead of any protests.
"The area is not safe," said a cafe manager as he prepared to close the shop at about 4pm.
An AFP reporter saw shop windows broken, as well as security forces deploying.
A doctor in north-western Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals.
Some were badly beaten, suffering head injuries and broken legs and arms, as well as deep cuts.
At least 20 people in one hospital had been shot with live ammunition, five of whom later died.
World leaders urge restraint from Iranian authorities
Authorities said several members of the security forces had been killed, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a defiant speech on Friday lashed out at "vandals" and accused the United States of fuelling the protests.
State TV on Saturday broadcast images 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's army said in a statement that it would "vigorously protect and safeguard national interests" against an "enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace".
Anti-regime protests began in Iran over soaring inflation. (AP: Vahid Salemi)
Global leaders have urged restraint from Iranian authorities, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen saying Europe backed Iranians' mass protests and condemned the "violent repression" against the demonstrators.
Mr Trump said on Thursday he was not inclined to meet Mr Pahlavi, a sign that he was waiting to see how the crisis plays out before backing an opposition leader.
Iran has had repeated bouts of unrest, including over a disputed election in 2009, against economic hardships in 2019, and in 2022 over the death in custody of a woman accused of violating dress codes.
Mr Trump, who joined Israel to strike Iran's nuclear sites last summer, has included Iran in lists of places in which he could intervene since sending forces to seize the president of Venezuela a week ago.
On Friday, in a warning to Iran's leaders, he said: "You better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too."
Protesters blocked an intersection during a protest in Tehran on Thursday. (UGC via AP)
Some protesters on the streets have shouted slogans in support of Mr Pahlavi, such as "Long live the shah", although most chants have called for an end to rule by the clerics or demanded action to fix the economy.
On Friday, Mr Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of Mr Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as "mercenaries for foreigners".
Airlines have cancelled some flights to Iran over the demonstrations.
Austrian Airlines said on Saturday that it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran "as a precautionary measure" through to Monday.
Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.