Violent protesters face death penalty: Iran prosecutor

Iran has been largely cut off from the outside world after videos showing buildings engulfed in flames as anti-government protests intensified in many cities across the country, authorities blacked out the internet to prevent growing unrest.

Human rights groups have documented the deaths of dozens of protesters in nearly two weeks, and Iranian state television has shown clashes and fires while the Tasnim news agency has reported the killing of several police officers overnight.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down in a televised speech, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of immigrant opposition groups and the United States, and a prosecutor threatened the death penalty.

The unrest has not mobilized as many layers of society as other protests in recent years, but authorities appear more vulnerable following the poor economic situation and last year’s war with Israel and the United States.

Although the initial protests focused on the economy, with the rial currency losing half its value against the US dollar last year and inflation reaching 40 percent in December, they turned into slogans directly targeting the authorities.

The internet outage has significantly reduced the amount of information leaving the country.

Phone calls to Iran were not being made.

According to information published on Dubai Airport’s website on Friday, at least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran were canceled.

The protests, which began late last month when shopkeepers and bazaar traders demonstrated over rising inflation and the decline in the rial, quickly spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces.

In the images broadcast by state television throughout the night, it was stated that there were fires in underground train stations and banks, as well as burning buses, cars and motorcycles.

It was stated that the opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin Organization, also known as MKO or MEK, which was headquartered abroad and splintered after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was responsible for this unrest.

A state television reporter standing in front of the fires on Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea port of Rasht said: “This place looks like a war zone; all the shops have been destroyed.”

In the images confirmed by Reuters to have been taken in the capital Tehran, hundreds of people can be seen marching.

Authorities tried a dual approach; While they described the economy-related protests as legitimate, they condemned what they called violent rioters and put pressure on them with security forces.

Last week, President Masoud Pezeshkian called on authorities to take a “kind and responsible approach” and the government offered modest fiscal stimulus to help prevent worsening poverty as inflation soars.

But as unrest spread and clashes became more violent, Iran’s elected president and Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority over the parliament, used much harsher language on Friday.

“The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people. It will not back down in the face of vandals,” he said, accusing those involved in ‍unrest of seeking to please US President Donald Trump.

Tehran’s prosecutor said those who committed sabotage, burned public property or clashed with security forces would face the death penalty.

Iran’s splintered external opposition groups called for more protests, with demonstrators chanting “Death to the dictator!” He shouted slogans like. and praising the monarchy that was overthrown in 1979.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah, said to Iranians in his social media post: “The eyes of the world are on you. Take to the streets.”

However, the extent of support for the monarchy in Iran or the MKO, which is the most vocal of immigrant opposition groups, is debatable.

Despite the mounting pressure, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that the possibility of foreign military intervention in Iran was “very low.”

He said the Omani foreign minister, who frequently mediates negotiations between Iran and the United States, will visit on Saturday.

The Islamic Republic has weathered repeated periods of major unrest for decades, including student protests in 1999, mass demonstrations over disputed election results in 2009, demonstrations over economic hardship in 2019, and the Women, Life, Freedom protests in 2022.