On Friday, January 9, mass protests erupted again in Iran. The authorities shut down the internet, canceled some flights, and calls from abroad stopped going through, as reported by Reuters.
In video footage confirmed by AFP, protesters in the Saadatabad area of Tehran can be seen banging pots and shouting slogans such as "Death to Khamenei," directed at Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to information from Deutsche Welle, authorities are increasing security measures on the streets of Tehran in response to the protests. On one of the city's main roads, security forces have set up checkpoints every 10 meters, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, as reported by the student bulletin "Amirkabir."
Ali Reza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, assessed the damage from the protests that occurred on the night of January 9, stating that more than 50 banks and several government buildings were set on fire, and over 30 mosques were damaged by fire.
According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), hospitals in Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj are overwhelmed with injured protesters. The human rights agency HRANA reports at least 62 fatalities, including 14 security personnel and 48 protesters, as well as 2,300 arrests.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his televised address, accused the protesters of trying to please U.S. President Donald Trump.
"A group of vandals from Tehran and other places took to the streets, destroying the buildings of their country to please the U.S. president," Khamenei stated. "Inexperienced and irresponsible people believe him and act on his orders, including setting fire to trash bins."
"Everyone must understand," he continued, "that the Islamic Republic was founded on the blood of hundreds of thousands of noble people and will not yield to those who reject it."
Amir Saeed Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the UN, also accused Washington and Israel of "destabilizing actions" and of turning peaceful protests into acts of violence, according to Reuters.
U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated the day before that the U.S. is prepared to strike against Iranian authorities, although he did not specify how this would be done.
"I told them that if they start killing people, as usually happens during riots, we will strike them hard," Trump said in a radio interview on Thursday.
On the previous weekend, Trump also promised to support the protesters in Iran if the authorities began to kill them.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the overthrown Shah of Iran in 1979 and now living in the U.S., urged Trump to intervene in the situation in Iran.
"Mr. President, I urge you to urgently pay attention to the situation, support, and take action," Pahlavi wrote on the social network X.
"I called on people to take to the streets and fight for freedom to suppress the security forces with their numbers. In an hour, people will take to the streets again. I ask for your help."
The protests in Iran, which began on December 28 at the main bazaar in Tehran, are now in their 13th day. Initially, shop owners and students dissatisfied with the authorities' actions amid a sharp decline in the national currency and rising prices participated. After that, other groups of the population joined the protests, and economic demands evolved into political ones.
The last time such unrest occurred in Iran was three years ago, after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police. At that time, the country experienced the largest protests since 1979, when the Islamic Revolution took place.
