Fears of a brutal crackdown in Iran intensify on Saturday. The country is cut off from the world by an Internet blockade, after new demonstrations overnight as part of a mobilization never seen in three years.
The United States supports the courageous people of Iran
wrote the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, on X.
Of the ONG have reported dozens of deaths since the movement began in late December, and the Islamic Republic faces one of its biggest challenges since its establishment in 1979.
The son of the former shah, overthrown at the time, and Iranian opposition figure in exile in the United States, Reza Pahlavi, called on Iranians to prepare to take
city centers, asking them to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday at the end of the day.
Nationwide protests began in late December at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar against failed economic policies, then spread to universities and other cities, with economic, political and anti-government slogans.
Photo : Getty Images / MAHSA
The country has been deprived of the Internet for almost two days following a cut imposed by the authorities throughout the territory, according to theONG Cybersecurity monitoring tool Netblocks.
Under these conditions, little information filters through.
The Internet shutdown aims to conceal the violence inflicted during the repression
warned dissident Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof on Instagram, calling on the international community to set up means of communication
to monitor the situation.
The winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, the Iranian lawyer in exile Shirin Ebadi, also said she feared a massacre under the cover of black-out total
. She was particularly alarmed by reports of raids by security forces on hospitals against injured demonstrators.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed Europe’s full support for the Iranian women and men demanding freedom
denouncing the violent repression
.
The story of Carla Oliveira
Big problems
According to theONG Amnesty International, elements it analyzes show an intensification of repression in recent days.
Since the start of the protest on December 28, at least 51 demonstrators have been killed, including nine children, and hundreds of others have been injured, the organization counted on Friday. Iran Human Rightsbased in Norway.
It seems to me that the people are taking control of certain cities, which no one would have thought possible just a few weeks ago.
launched Donald Trump on Friday, believing that Iran had big problems
.
The day before, he had reiterated his threats to hit very hard
the country in the event of a deadly wave of repression.
The American president, however, considers it premature for Reza Pahlavi to take on a leadership role in the event of the fall of the regime, the shah’s son saying he is ready to return to his native country
in a future very close
.
After a strong mobilization on Thursday, new mass demonstrations shook Tehran and other major cities overnight, according to images verified by theAFPbroadcast on social networks by satellite means.
In Tehran’s Saadatabad neighborhood, Iranians chanted anti-government slogans, including Death in Khamenei
named after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Foreign-based Persian-language television channels also broadcast videos of scores of protesters in Mashhad in the east, Tabriz in the north, and the holy city of Qom.
Another video, thatAFP has not yet been able to authenticate, shows a man brandishing an Iranian flag from the time of the shah, amid fires and a dancing crowd in the town of Hamedan (west).
In the middle of war
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, January 3, 2026.
Photo : Reuters / Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
In an offensive speech, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared on Friday that his country would not back down
in the face of protest.
We are in the middle of a war
then launched Ali Larijani, one of his close advisors, who heads the highest security body, denouncing incidents orchestrated from the outside
.
The head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, for his part accused the United States and Israel of interference in the movement.
The Iranian army, for its part, assured that it would vigorously protect and safeguard national interests
against one enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace
.
State television on Saturday broadcast images of the funerals – attended by a large crowd in the southern city of Shiraz – of members of the security forces killed during the protests.
In London, the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the pediment of the Iranian embassy was briefly replaced by that of the former monarchical regime by a demonstrator, during a gathering of several hundred people in support of the movement in Iran, according to witnesses.
The Iranian government has not had to face such a challenge since that caused by the death in 2022 of Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating the strict women’s dress code.
It comes in a country weakened by its June war with Israel and the blows dealt to several of its regional allies, as well as by the sanctions linked to its nuclear program reinstated in September by theHIM.
