Iran was gripped by its most serious wave of unrest in more than three years on Friday as fresh protests erupted across major cities, defying a sweeping internet blackout imposed by authorities amid a violent crackdown that human rights groups say has killed dozens.
Demonstrations, triggered initially by a sharp collapse in the national currency, have rapidly evolved into a broader revolt against the Islamic Republic, with protesters calling for the end of clerical rule. The growing movement poses one of the most direct challenges to the regime since the 2022–2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public remarks since the protests began on December 28, signaled no willingness to compromise. Instead, he vowed that the state would confront what he described as “vandalism and sabotage,” accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of foreign powers.
“They are destroying their own streets to please the president of another country,” Khamenei said, an apparent reference to former US president Donald Trump, who has publicly warned Tehran against killing protesters. Khamenei’s comments underscored the leadership’s view that the unrest is externally orchestrated rather than a reflection of domestic discontent.
Despite the threats, protests continued to spread. In Tehran’s affluent Sadatabad neighborhood, residents banged pots and chanted slogans including “death to Khamenei,” according to verified videos. Similar scenes were reported across the capital and in cities such as Mashhad, Tabriz, Qom, and Rasht, while footage broadcast by Persian-language media outside Iran showed large crowds marching late into the night.
Rights groups say the response from security forces has been swift and brutal. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported at least 50 deaths and more than 2,270 arrests since demonstrations escalated this week. Norway-based Iran Human Rights later raised the death toll to at least 51, including nine children, with hundreds more injured by live ammunition, pellet guns, and beatings.
Amnesty International said a nationwide “blanket internet shutdown,” introduced on Thursday evening, appeared designed to conceal the scale of abuses. “The authorities are trying to hide the true extent of grave human rights violations and crimes under international law,” the organization said.
The blackout has severely restricted the flow of information, making it difficult to verify events on the ground. In the southeastern city of Zahedan, where Iran’s Sunni Baloch minority predominates, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported that a march following Friday prayers was met with gunfire, wounding several demonstrators.
The economic roots of the unrest run deep. Iran’s currency has plunged to historic lows amid sanctions, mismanagement, and the economic fallout of last year’s military confrontation with Israel and the United States. But protesters have quickly expanded their demands beyond economic relief to include political freedoms and regime change.
On Thursday night, thousands poured into Tehran’s streets in the largest demonstrations seen since 2022. Protesters torched a building linked to state television and raised the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flag, a potent symbol of opposition to clerical rule. Chants calling for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, echoed in several cities, including Mashhad, Khamenei’s hometown.
Pahlavi, who lives in the United States, has sought to position himself as a unifying figure for the opposition. After calling for nationwide demonstrations at 8pm on Thursday, he urged Iranians to return to the streets again on Friday night, accusing the regime of using the internet blackout to “murder these young heroes.”
“I know that despite the shutdown and lack of communication, you will not leave the streets,” Pahlavi wrote on social media platform X. “Make sure victory is yours.”
While the protest movement remains largely decentralized, some demonstrators say they now see Pahlavi as a potential transitional leader. “We failed to unite last time,” said Mehnaz, a 46-year-old protester. “We’ve learned our lesson. We need a figure who can help us survive and move toward democracy.”
Others insist the movement is broader than any single leader. Still, the visible revival of monarchist symbols suggests a significant shift in public anger toward the regime.
Donald Trump added fuel to the crisis with a series of inflammatory remarks. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, he claimed Khamenei was preparing to flee the country. “It’s getting very bad,” Trump said. On Friday night, he warned Iran’s leadership: “They better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
Iranian officials dismissed the comments as interference. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking in Beirut, accused Washington and Israel of actively fueling the unrest. “You need to look at their statements to see how they are interfering,” he said.
The US State Department responded sharply, calling Araghchi’s remarks “delusional” and an attempt to deflect from domestic failures.
European leaders also weighed in. France, Germany, and the UK issued a joint statement urging restraint and condemning the killing of protesters. “Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect their population and allow freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” the statement said.
Inside Iran, the judiciary struck a hard line. Chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei warned that consequences for demonstrators would be “decisive, maximum, and without any legal leniency.”
State media, which acknowledged the protests for the first time on Friday, portrayed the unrest as violent riots orchestrated by “terrorist agents” linked to the US and Israel. Television channels aired footage of pro-government rallies and claimed security forces had dismantled Israeli “false-flag” plots aimed at framing the state for civilian deaths.
On the streets, however, protesters described a very different reality. Maryam, a 25-year-old artist in Tehran, said security forces were deliberately targeting demonstrators’ eyes. “The police, the Basij, even plainclothes units are driving motorbikes into crowds,” she said via text message. “I’m afraid I’ll wake up to hundreds of casualties.”
Students and activists have attempted to circumvent the internet shutdown using methods developed during last year’s war-related blackouts. Hossein, a 22-year-old student, said small groups were still able to communicate through “secret tunnels” routing messages abroad, though mobile networks were increasingly unreliable.
Human rights organizations say the crackdown has only intensified public anger. Human Rights Watch documented at least 28 deaths from gunfire between December 31 and January 3 alone. “These are the same brutal patterns we have seen in previous crackdowns,” said HRW researcher Bahar Saba, referencing the 2019 protests and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement of 2022.
Defiance has also escalated. Protesters in several cities have reportedly forced riot police to retreat by throwing stones and burning security vehicles. “They abandoned their vans and fled,” said Ali, a 21-year-old student in Tehran. “This country belongs to us.”
Anger has increasingly been directed at religious institutions associated with the regime. On Wednesday, crowds stormed a Shia seminary in Gonabad, beating staff and damaging buildings, according to local officials.
As night fell on Friday, all eyes were on whether protesters would again heed Pahlavi’s call to return to the streets—and whether the regime’s show of force would break the momentum or deepen the confrontation. With Iran’s leadership appearing determined to rule through repression, many fear the country is entering a dangerous new phase of instability whose outcome remains deeply uncertain.
