The Iranian government is trying to contain protests that began late last month with merchants in Tehran and have escalated into mass demonstrations and expanded strikes in cities and towns across the country. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the government "will not back down" against protesters, whom he called "vandals," UNN reports with reference to The Washington Post.
Details
In the modest city of Abdanan on Tuesday night, a large crowd marched, "shouting death to Khamenei." In the large city of Mashhad on Wednesday night, people tore down a huge flag with the emblem of the Islamic Republic and ripped it to shreds. On Thursday night, masses of Iranians took to the streets after a call from the former royal heir of Iran. And in a new and potentially ominous turn, many businesses closed their shops, halting much of the country's already ailing economy, the publication writes.
According to human rights groups, security forces have in many cases responded with violence, including killing protesters, raiding hospitals, and arresting thousands. According to human rights groups, the death toll ranges from at least 27 to 36 people. The Center for Human Rights in Iran said on Tuesday that six children had been killed by security forces.
Khamenei tried to downplay the mass demonstrations on Thursday evening and discredit them as being at the behest of the United States: "Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals came and destroyed a building that belonged to them to please the President of the United States."
Some videos circulated online show that security forces were sometimes overwhelmed by the size of the gatherings. And despite the crackdown and official announcements of modest economic changes, including monthly payments to households of $7 to buy basic foodstuffs, the protests seem to be gaining momentum, the publication notes.
"They have not recognized the legitimacy of even the most basic demands of these people, so now people are on the edge," said 55-year-old Omid, a carpet shop owner in the capital Tehran, in an interview on Wednesday. That day, security forces confronted protesters in a bazaar in Tehran, using tear gas, as videos showed.
Large crowds took to the streets on Thursday evening in the country's largest cities, including Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan, as well as in other cities from large to small, after former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called on Iranians to protest. Pahlavi wrote in his article in The Washington Post on Tuesday that he sees himself as a unifying figure who will help Iran transition to democracy, rather than a "ruler in waiting."
The size of the crowd on Thursday evening reminded some participants and observers of the Green Movement of 2009, when approximately 3 million Iranians took to the streets in one day in Tehran. Since then, turnout at demonstrations in Iran has generally been smaller and more dispersed, partly due to increased security measures. But not on Thursday evening, the publication writes.
On Thursday, according to 35-year-old Nazanin, at least a third of businesses in Semnan, a city in north-central Iran that has experienced little unrest in the past, were closed. And they were not alone. In the western parts of the country, where the country's Kurdish population is concentrated, businesses seemed to largely adhere to the call of Kurdish political parties to close their businesses.
People in Tehran, Rasht, and Mashhad – large Iranian cities in different parts of the country – said in interviews that the vast majority of shops in their areas were also closed. Shops that were open included supermarkets, where Iranians had trouble finding basic goods, especially oil.
If the suspension of economic activity continues, it could prove significant, the publication writes. Widespread business closures were almost unheard of during past protests in Iran in recent decades.
"Everyone is on strike now," Amir, a food vendor in Karaj near Tehran, said on Wednesday. "The economy has collapsed. The bazaar has collapsed. A friend of mine at the bazaar said, 'If they want to shoot and kill us, let them! We've had enough.'"
The Iranian government has repeatedly faced street protests, especially since 2017 – an average of one mass protest every two years. Each time, the authorities managed to suppress the demonstrations by force, including mass arrests and killings.
Several Iranians interviewed by The Post noted that U.S. President Donald Trump's public support for the protesters strengthens people's motivation to resist. Trump said that the United States would intervene if Iranian authorities killed protesters, although it is unclear what that intervention would look like, the publication notes.
In text messages, the government informed some Iranians that, according to "observations," they were near an "illegal gathering" and warned them not to do so again, according to screenshots of messages shared with The Post.
Authorities are also reportedly calling and threatening people who post messages in support of the protests on their social media accounts. One woman, a book blogger in her 30s with about 35,000 Instagram followers, said she received such a call last week after praising the bravery of Iranian protesters and calling for solidarity. The caller identified himself as an intelligence officer and told her she had 30 minutes to delete her posts or face criminal charges, the publication writes.
"This time, all this injustice that has been done to us has accumulated, and people have taken to the streets because of this injustice," she said. "This time there is much more anger, and people have much more hope. The longer it goes on, the more people come out."
Ali Sharifi-Zarchi, a widely respected professor of computer engineering at Tehran's elite Sharif University of Technology, posted a simple five-word message in Persian on his X account on Monday: "Ali Khamenei is not my leader."
It was a stunning statement in a country where such direct criticism of Khamenei has long been considered crossing a red line, even if Iranian presidents and other officials are often subjected to harsh attacks by their rivals and the media. Employment at a state university like Sharif, or indeed at any prominent institution in Iran, is impossible for those considered to be resolutely and openly opposed to the government, the publication writes.
Outside Sharifi-Zarchi's office, the Basij, a state militia that often suppresses protests, posted images of his post, Trump's social media posts, and a sign that read "Speaking with the same voice as the enemy."
Sharifi-Zarchi, in turn, shared a screenshot of the Basij post on X and wrote: "The enemies of the Iranian people are those who attack hospitals, use tear gas in the subway, and respond to unarmed protesters with live ammunition."
On Thursday, he had a simpler message: "The victory of the Iranian people is near," the publication notes.
Iranian authorities cut off internet and mobile communications08.01.26, 22:50 • [views_6610]