Dozens reportedly dead as Iran hit by biggest protests in years

Social media images emerge from Iran amid coverage internet outage and telecommunications networks showed hundreds of thousands of people marching and chanting anti-regime slogans across the country, with graphic scenes of bodies lying in blood. Other clips showed that older people made up a large portion of the protesters.

Mobile camera footage taken in Fardis, a town about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Tehran, showed at least seven blood-covered bodies inside a building. In the videos, people are seen bandaging the heads and covering one eye of another individual, while a voice says at least 10 people were shot and killed. None of the images could be independently verified by Bloomberg.

Security forces arrested nearly 200 “terrorist group leaders”, seizing ammunition, hand grenades and Molotov cocktails, Tasnim reported on Saturday, citing a well-informed security official. Iran’s attorney general has warned that all detainees will be charged as “enemies of God” – a broadly defined offense punishable by death under the country’s Islamic law.

Mohammad Movahedi Azad said all “rioters” would face the same charge, “whether an individual aided rioters and terrorists” or “whether they were mercenaries who took up arms.” He said the trial would proceed without any delay and “without leniency, compassion or indulgence”, the official IRIB News reported.

The news agency of human rights activists based in the United States said Friday that at least 65 people have been killed and 2,311 arrested since protests began on December 28, when Tehran traders were protesting the currency crisis and deteriorating living conditions. Since then, protests have spread across the country.

Thirty-eight of the victims were identified in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Ilam, Kermanshah and Fars provinces in central and western Iran, according to the rights activists’ group. Time magazine reported On Friday, at least 217 protesters died in Tehran, most of them from live ammunition, citing a doctor in the capital.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said in a Publication that a nationwide internet blackout remained in effect in Iran on Saturday. People in the country appeared largely cut off from international online services in the afternoon local time, with many users around the world reporting they had been unable to get in touch with loved ones back home for almost two days.

Learn more: Growing unrest in Iran risks worsening Islamic regime crisis

The protests on Thursday and Friday – the Iranian weekend – followed a call from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the country’s former shah who is positioning himself as an opposition leader. He again urged protesters to return to the streets after 6 p.m. local time on Saturday and Sunday.

“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets,” Pahlavi, 65, based in the United States, said in a statement. Publication. “The goal is to prepare to capture the city centers and hold them.” Pahlavi urged workers in the oil, gas and transportation sectors to begin a national strike and said he was “preparing to return to his country.”

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi arrived in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported. The visit comes amid growing tensions between the United States and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s handling of protests, a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it was unclear whether Albusaidi was carrying “a message from somewhere.” Oman mediated five rounds of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington last year, which were halted after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in June.

State television downplayed Saturday’s protests, saying security forces had largely contained Friday’s protests after what it described as unrest caused by “armed terrorists” in Tehran and other cities the previous night.

Iran’s regular army has demonstrated its loyalty to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it will “monitor enemy movements in the region and firmly protect the nation’s interests, strategic infrastructure and public assets” under the leadership of the 86-year-old leader, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Crowds singing

Iranian authorities have so far refrained from publishing an official death toll among protesters or security forces. State-affiliated media reported at least a dozen deaths among police and Basij volunteer militias since Thursday. Tasnim said “armed terrorists” killed several police officers on Thursday.

Violence also erupted in Zahedan, a predominantly Sunni city in southwestern Iran and a longtime hotbed of deadly security incidents. The Hengaw Human Rights Organization, registered in Norway, said security forces opened fire on protesters after Friday prayers, leaving several injured.

State media published images of several burning buildings in Tehran, while a video on social media reportedly showed a municipal building in Karaj, west of the capital, engulfed in flames.

Chants recorded in the footage included “Death to the dictator,” “No Gaza, no Lebanon, my life for Iran,” and “It’s the year of blood; Seyyed Ali will be overthrown,” referring to Khamenei, who on Friday reiterated his promise to crush protesters.

While the United States has so far been reluctant to accept Pahlavi as a potential replacement for Iran’s government, President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned the regime against killing protesters.

On Friday, the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Germany also called the regime to “show restraint, refrain from violence and respect the fundamental rights of Iranian citizens”.