Iran protests enter third week as deaths rise and tensions grow
Nationwide protests against Iran’s theocracy entered a third week as deaths rose and internet access was cut. Iranian leaders issued threats against the US and Israel, while activists warned of a harsh crackdown amid growing international concern
DUBAI (United Arab Emirates): Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy saw protesters flood the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city into Sunday, crossing the two-week mark as violence surrounding the demonstrations has killed at least 116 people, activists said.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has increased, while 2,600 others have been detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Donald Trump. Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!”
Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite warnings from Trump that he is willing to strike Iran to protect peaceful demonstrators.
Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous U.S. officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but had not made a final decision.
The State Department separately warned, “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
Parliament rallies
Iranian state television broadcast the parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for the presidency in the past, gave a speech praising police and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for having “stood firm” during the protests.
“The people of Iran should know that we will deal with them in the most severe way and punish those who are arrested,” Qalibaf said.
He went on to directly threaten Israel, which he referred to as “the occupied territory”, and the U.S. military, possibly with a pre-emptive strike.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defences destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel.
Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S. military has said in the Middle East that it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and U.S. interests.”
Iran targeted U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the U.S. Navy’s Middle East-based Fifth Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Israel, meanwhile, is “watching closely” the situation between the U.S. and Iran, said an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to journalists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.
Protests in Tehran and Mashhad
Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran’s Punak neighbourhood. Authorities appeared to have shut off streets, with protesters waving lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.
Other footage purportedly showed demonstrators peacefully marching down a street and others honking car horns.
“The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived and fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure,” the Human Rights Activists News Agency said.
“At the same time, reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements by security forces around protest locations, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control.”
In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city about 725 kilometres northeast of Tehran, footage purportedly showed protesters confronting security forces. Flaming debris and dumpsters were seen on the street, blocking the road.
Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza shrine, the holiest in Shia Islam, making the protests there carry major significance for the country’s theocracy.
Protests also appeared to take place in Kerman, about 800 kilometres southeast of Tehran.
Iranian state television on Sunday morning sent correspondents to streets in several cities to show calm areas, with date stamps displayed on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. The channel also aired pro-government demonstrations in Qom and Qazvin.
Ali Larijani, a senior security official, went on state television to accuse some demonstrators of “killing people or burning some people, which is very similar to what ISIS does”, referring to the Islamic State group.
State television aired funerals of slain security force members while reporting that another six had been killed in Kermanshah.
More demonstrations planned Sunday
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests on Thursday and Friday, urged demonstrators in his latest message to take to the streets again on Sunday.
He asked protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own”.
Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past, particularly after the 12-day war.
Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it remains unclear whether this reflects support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to the period before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The demonstrations began on Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to a dollar, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions, in part imposed over its nuclear programme.
The protests later intensified and grew into direct challenges to Iran’s theocracy.
