‘Death to the dictator, Pahlavi will return': Iran protests widen, deepen

Iran’s anti-regime unrest spread to more cities and intensified, with demonstrations taking place in at least 46 cities across 21 provinces as of Thursday, the 12th day of protests. Videos show government buildings on fire, protesters chanting against the Islamic regime, and bonfires burning in the streets.

The death toll for the past 12 days reached 42 people, five of them minors under 18 and eight security personnel or officers, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S. group started by Iranian expatriates, reported. More than 2,000 have been arrested.

In a number of cities, there were reports of the sound of gunfire, HRANA reported. Earlier reports said security forces had fired directly into crowds in some locations.

The New York Times reported that it had verified video from Thursday of protesters in Karaj, a suburb of Tehran, fleeing after gunshots were fired. It could not confirm that security forces had fired the shots.

According to Iran International, a London-based independent Persian-language news channel, roughly half of reported fatalities have taken place in western provinces.

Unrest against the government has been particularly strong in the western, Kurdish-majority province of Ilam, which the news site described as having become “one of the epicenters” of the protests.

On Thursday, businesses in Kurdish-majority provinces went on strike after a call by seven Kurdish opposition parties to protest the harsh government crackdown.

Also on Thursday, the Azeri-majority cities of Tabriz and Ardabil joined the protests for the first time.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who warned on Jan. 2 that America would step in to defend the protesters if the regime “violently killed” them, repeated his warning to Fox News‘s Sean Hannity, saying if the ayatollahs machine-gun protesters, “we’re going to hit them very hard.”

However, the Islamic leadership warned on Wednesday it would toughen measures against the protesters, and imposed a nationwide internet shutdown.

Netblocks, a London-based global internet monitor, confirmed the country’s internet shut down at about 8 p.m. Iran time on Thursday. On Friday morning, the group said Iranian internet had been offline for 12 hours “with national connectivity flatlining at ~1% of ordinary levels.”

The online blackout came after Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called for protesters to make their voices heard at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday by chanting simultaneously from their streets and homes.

The prince said it was important to keep the demonstrations going and as large as possible, noting that the large crowds have forced government forces to back down and have even led to defections to the side of protesters.

Pahlavi has emerged as a rallying figure for the protesters. An Iran International analysis of protest chants found that of the many slogans chanted throughout the country, the one with the most frequency was: “This is the final battle; Pahlavi is coming back.” The Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran from 1925 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Other chants heard from crowds include “Death to the dictator,” “Until the cleric is buried, this homeland won’t become a homeland,” “Cannons, tanks, fireworks; mullahs must go,” and “Javid Shah” (“Long live the king,” referring to Pahlavi.

Members of Iran’s government have blamed Israel for the upheaval. Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, said in a Thursday post on X:

“When the footprints of foreign services and the Zionist regime are evident, it means the destabilization puzzle has been activated; a puzzle that the Iranian nation will not allow to be completed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 4 voiced support for anti-regime protests in Iran, telling his Cabinet that Jerusalem stands with Iranians seeking freedom and that this may be a pivotal moment in their fight for change.

Protests began on Dec. 28 when owners of electronics and mobile phone shops closed their stores at two shopping centers in Tehran. They went on strike in protest of the collapsing currency, the rial. Their protest quickly expanded nationwide with the message growing beyond economic complaints to a general condemnation of the system.