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The largest anti-government demonstrations to rock Iran in recent years intensified Friday night, fueling fears of growing fatalities as authorities battle to suppress the protests. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Social media footage trickling out of Iran amid a blanket\u00a0shutdown of internet\u00a0and telecommunications networks showed hundreds of thousands marching and chanting anti-regime slogans across the country, with graphic scenes of bodies lying in blood. Other clips showed that the elderly made up many of the protesters.<\/p>\n
Separate mobile-camera footage from Fardis, a city about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Tehran, showed at least seven bodies covered in blood inside a building. In the videos, people are seen bandaging the head and patching an eye of another individual, while a voice says at least 10 people were killed by gunfire. None of the footage could be independently verified by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Security forces have arrested nearly 200 \u201cleaders of terrorist groups,\u201d seizing ammunition, hand grenades and Molotov cocktails, Tasnim reported Saturday, citing an informed security official. Iran\u2019s prosecutor general warned that all detainees would be charged as an \u201cenemy of God\u201d \u2014 a broadly defined offense punishable by death under Islamic law in the country.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Movahedi Azad said all \u201crioters\u201d would face the same charge, \u201cwhether an individual has assisted rioters and terrorists\u201d or \u201cwhether they are mercenaries who have taken up arms.\u201d He said trial proceedings will be carried out without any delay and \u201cwithout leniency, compassion, or indulgence,\u201d the state-run IRIB News reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency\u00a0said Friday\u00a0that at least 65 people have been killed and 2,311 arrested since protests began on Dec. 28, when traders in Tehran protested a currency crisis and worsening living conditions. The demonstrations have since spread nationwide.<\/p>\n
Thirty-eight of the fatalities were identified in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Ilam, Kermanshah, and Fars provinces in central and western Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists group.\u00a0Time magazine reported\u00a0Friday that at least 217 protesters have died in Tehran, mostly by live ammunition, citing a doctor in the capital.<\/p>\n
Internet-monitoring group NetBlocks said in an\u00a0X posting\u00a0that a nationwide internet blackout remained in place in Iran as of Saturday. People inside the country appeared largely cut off from international online services afternoon local time, with many users worldwide reporting they had been unable to get in touch with loved ones at home for almost two days.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0Iran\u2019s Growing Unrest Risks Deepening Crisis for Islamic Regime<\/p>\n
The protests over Thursday and Friday \u2014 Iran\u2019s weekend \u2014 followed a call by Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the country\u2019s former shah who\u2019s positioning himself as an opposition leader. He urged demonstrators again to return to the streets after 6 p.m. local time on Saturday and Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is no longer merely to take to the streets,\u201d the US-based, 65-year-old Pahlavi said in an\u00a0X posting. \u201cThe goal is to prepare to seize city centers and hold them.\u201d Pahlavi urged workers in oil, gas and transportation industries to begin a nationwide strike, and said he is \u201cpreparing to return to the homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oman\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi arrived in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported. The visit comes amid rising tensions between the US and Iran over the Islamic Republic\u2019s handling of protests, a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it was unclear whether Albusaidi was carrying \u201ca message from anywhere.\u201d Oman mediated five rounds of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington last year, which stalled after US and Israeli attacks on Iran in June.<\/p>\n
State TV played down the protests on Saturday, saying security forces had largely contained the demonstrations on Friday after what it described as unrest by \u201carmed terrorists\u201d in Tehran and other cities the night before.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s regular army signaled its loyalty to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it will \u201cmonitor enemy movements in the region and firmly safeguard the nation\u2019s interests, strategic infrastructure, and public property\u201d under the 86-year-old leader, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.<\/p>\n
Iranian authorities have so far refrained from releasing an official tally of fatalities among protesters or security forces. State-affiliated media reported at least a dozen deaths among police and Basij volunteer militia forces since Thursday. Tasnim said \u201carmed terrorists\u201d killed several police personnel in gunfire on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Violence also broke out in Zahedan, a Sunni-majority city in south-western Iran and a long-standing flashpoint for deadly security incidents. The Norwegian-registered Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said security forces opened fire on demonstrators after Friday prayers, leaving several wounded.<\/p>\n
State media published images of several burned buildings in Tehran, while a social media video purportedly showed a municipality building in Karaj, west of the capital, engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n
Chants recorded in footage included \u201cDeath to the dictator,\u201d \u201cNo Gaza, no Lebanon, my life for Iran,\u201d and \u201cThis is the year of blood; Seyyed Ali will be toppled,\u201d referring to Khamenei, who on Friday repeated his pledge to quash protesters.<\/p>\n
While the US has so far been reluctant to embrace Pahlavi as a potential replacement for the Iranian government, President Donald Trump has warned the regime repeatedly against killing protesters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Friday, the leaders of France, the UK and Germany also\u00a0called\u00a0on the regime to \u201cexercise restraint, to refrain from violence, and to uphold the fundamental rights of Iran\u2019s citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Dozens #feared #dead #Iran #hit #largest #protests #years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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