The catalyst was the conversion of the Crown Prince in exile.
Mass protests in Iran, which erupted after the Iranian currency rial fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar, have gained new momentum. Residents of Tehran on the evening of Thursday, January 8, shouted into the streets after the exiled crown prince called for a mass demonstration, writes Euronews.
Internet access and phone lines in Iran were cut off immediately after the protests began. Internet company CloudFlare and human rights group NetBlocks reported the internet outage, attributing it to Iranian government interference.
Attempts to reach landlines and cell phones from Dubai to Iran were unsuccessful. In the past, such disconnections have been followed by active government crackdowns.
This is a new escalation of a protest movement initially directed against Iran's deteriorating economy that has spread across the Islamic Republic.
The protest was the first test of whether the Iranian public could go after Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose terminally ill father fled Iran shortly before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Pahlavi has called for demonstrations Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. local time. As the clock struck, witnesses said, neighborhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting.
The slogans included "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to the Islamic Republic!" Others praised the Shah, shouting: "This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!" Thousands could be seen in the streets.
"Great people of Iran, the whole world is looking at you. Take to the streets and shout your demands with a united front," Pahlavi said in a statement. - I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the IRGC that the world and [President Donald Trump] are watching you closely. The suppression of the people will not go unanswered."
Demonstrations have included shouts of support for the Shah, which in the past might have resulted in a death sentence but now underscores the anger fueling the protests.
Demonstrations that began in Iran's cities and rural towns on Wednesday continued Thursday. More markets and bazaars closed in support of the protesters.
According to the U.S.-based news agency Human Rights Activists, violence surrounding the demonstrations has left at least 39 people dead and more than 2,260 detained.
The growing protests are increasing pressure on Iran's civilian government and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The protests themselves, meanwhile, remain largely leaderless. It remains unclear how Pahlavi's call will affect the demonstrations going forward.
"The lack of a viable alternative has undermined past protests in Iran as well," writes Nate Swanson of the Washington-based Atlantic Council, who studies Iran. - There may be a thousand dissident Iranian activists who, given the chance, could become respected statesmen, as labor leader Lech Walesa did in Poland at the end of the Cold War. But so far, Iran's security apparatus has arrested, harassed and expelled every potential transformational leader in the country."
Iranian officials appear to have taken the planned protests seriously. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper published a video online claiming that security forces would use drones to identify those who would take part.
Iranian officials failed to acknowledge the scale of the general protests, which raged in many places Thursday even before the evening demonstration began.
Iran assesses Trump's threat
It remains unclear why Iranian authorities have yet to take tougher measures against the demonstrators.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier warned that if Tehran were to "brutally kill peaceful protesters," America would "come to their aid."
Trump's comments prompted a fresh rebuke from Iran's foreign ministry.
"Recalling the long history of criminal interference by successive US administrations in Iran's internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry considers statements of concern for the great Iranian nation as hypocritical, aimed at deceiving public opinion and covering up the numerous crimes committed against Iranians," it said.
The comments, however, did not stop the U.S. State Department's social media platform X from highlighting online footage allegedly showing protesters pasting road name stickers in honor of Trump or throwing away government-subsidized rice.
"When prices are set so high that neither consumers can afford to buy nor farmers can afford to sell, everyone loses," one State Department post said. - This rice can simply be thrown away."
In the meantime, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said in a video posted on her Web X account: "The world is once again witnessing the brave people of Iran standing up for themselves."
"Their cry for freedom, for dignity, for the right to live and be governed as they see fit has been heard around the world," she said. - The people of Europe see what is happening in the streets, in the hearts and minds of the people of Iran. We know the changes that are taking place. The people of Iran are not protesting, they are shouting. Europe hears them, the world hears them."
The world is once again witnessing the brave people of Iran stand up.
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