US President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran’s leaders on Friday as videos showed violent anti-government protests across the country, and authorities shut down the internet to stem the escalating unrest.
Rights groups have documented dozens of protestor deaths in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and firefights, the official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers were killed overnight.
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week that the US might come to the aid of the protesters, issued another warning on Friday, saying: “You better not start shooting because we’re going to start shooting.”
Donald Trump issues Iran warning
“I hope the protesters in Iran will be safe, because that is a very dangerous place right now,” he added.
However, Trump said on Thursday that he has no intention of meeting with Reza Pahlavi, the American prince and son of the late Shah of Iran, a sign that he is waiting to see how the crisis plays out before supporting the opposition leader.
In a televised address, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed he would not back down, accusing protesters of representing opposition groups abroad and in the United States, while the public prosecutor threatened death sentences.
Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications said the decision to shut down the Internet was made by “competent security authorities under the current conditions of the country.”
Iran protests
The protests pose the biggest internal challenge in at least three years to Iran’s clerical rulers, who look more vulnerable than in previous periods of turmoil amid a dire economic climate and after last year’s war with Israel and the United States.
Although the initial protests focused on the economy, with the rial losing half of its value against the dollar last year and inflation exceeding 40 percent in December, they have launched slogans aimed directly at the authorities.
Iran’s rights group HRANA said on Friday it had recorded at least 62 deaths, including 14 security forces and 48 protesters, since the protests began on December 28.
The leaders of France, Britain and Germany issued a joint statement on Friday condemning the killing of protesters and urging Iranian authorities to refrain from violence.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations was deeply disturbed by the deaths.
“People anywhere in the world have the right to demonstrate peacefully, and governments have a responsibility to protect that right and ensure that that right is respected,” he said.
The internet shutdown has greatly reduced the amount of information coming out of Iran and calls to the country were not going through. At least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran have been cancelled, the Dubai Airport website said.
Images published by state television showed buses, cars and motorbikes being torched, as well as fires at train stations and underground banks.
Rights groups
Videos verified by Reuters showed hundreds of people marching in Tehran. In one, a woman was heard shouting, “Death to Khamenei!”
Some songs included slogans in support of the monarchy, which was overthrown in 1979.
Iran’s rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, home to a large Baluch minority, was met with gunfire and several people were injured.
Iran has faced recent upheavals in the past, including student protests in 1999, disputed elections in 2009, economic hardship in 2019, and the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests.
