Iran suffered a nationwide internet blackout on Thursday night as Iranians chanted slogans against the ruling theocratic regime and massive anti-government protests spread across the country amid mounting anger over economic turmoil and security crackdowns.
Authorities cut internet access and phone lines shortly after protests began Thursday in the capital Tehran and other major cities, but the power outage did not immediately prevent protesters from posting videos and the protests entered their second week.
“Nationwide blackouts tend to be a strategy that regimes use when deadly force is about to be used against protesters,” Alp Toker, director of cybersecurity watchdog Netblox, told CNN. “The purpose is to prevent the spread of news about what’s happening on the ground and to limit international surveillance.”
Since protests first erupted 12 days ago, people have taken to the streets in more than 100 cities, from Iram, a Kurdish-majority region bordering Iraq in the west, to Tehran and Mashhad in the northeast near the Afghan border. Authorities have reverted to a tried-and-tested strategy of crackdowns without offering viable solutions to complaints that have fueled public anger.
The Norway-based Iranian Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) reported on Thursday that at least 45 protesters, including eight children, have been killed since the demonstrations began. Hundreds more were injured and more than 2,000 were arrested.
At least some of the demonstrators appeared to be heeding calls for Thursday’s rally by exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi. One of the slogans marchers shouted was “This is the last fight, Pahlavi will return,” according to a video seen by CNN.
Amid recent protests, Pahlavi posted a post encouraging Mr. X, urging Iranians to “take to the streets and shout their demands as a united front.” He also said, “Stand up for Iran!”
Video seen by CNN showed large-scale protests taking place in cities across Iran, with demonstrators blocking roads and setting fires on the streets of the capital. In the video, protesters demonstrating across the country rallied around chants expressing support for and opposition to the Iranian government.
Iranian state media said “scattered” protests broke out overnight in parts of the capital Tehran and other cities, leaving an unspecified number of people dead and injured and damaging public and private property.
IRIB shared a video showing the aftermath of the protests in Tehran in a Telegram post Friday morning. There was no audio, but the footage showed several motorcycles and cars on fire on the road, as well as what appeared to be the burnt-out body of a bus. Entrances to the subway were also seen destroyed.
The violence prompted US President Donald Trump on Thursday to reiterate his threat to attack Iran if security forces kill protesters.
“I told them that if they start killing people, which they tend to do in riots, we’re going to attack them very hard,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
What started as organized protests in Tehran’s bazaars and universities has turned into a movement with thousands of people marching in the streets, ramping up pressure on the ruling regime. The protests turned violent after government security forces were called in.
Millions of Iranians are suffering from rampant inflation and a plummeting currency, putting daily necessities and medicine out of reach for many.
“This feels different, because this is an issue about people’s purchasing power, and people can’t really buy anything,” said a 30-year-old man from Tehran, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Prices are going up almost hourly at the moment, and no one knows what the end will be…Everyone is feeling anxious.”
Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that the protests have expanded beyond economic issues.
“It is clear that they are saying that this regime can no longer be reformed. That is why they want the Islamic Republic to end,” Alinejad said.
She added that this wave of protests felt different than before.
“I can almost smell the freedom,” Alinejad said. “When people go to the streets, they show their faces. They say they have nothing to fear, because they have nothing to lose.”
When shopkeepers protested the government’s failed economic policies in the narrow streets of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, their chants rocked the regime.
Making matters worse, the central bank last week decided to end a program that allowed some importers to take advantage of cheaper US dollars compared to other markets, a decision that led to shopkeepers raising prices.
Prices of daily necessities such as cooking oil and chicken rose dramatically overnight, with some products disappearing all together. The instability forced the bazaar to close, a drastic move for a group that has traditionally supported the Islamic Republic.
After days of protests and crackdowns, the reformist-ruled government sought to ease the pressure by handing out direct cash transfers of nearly $7 a month, but also said the measures alone would not resolve the crisis.
“The government should not expect to be able to deal with all this on its own,” President Massoud Pezeshkian said in a televised address on Monday.
Experts said the leaderless and uncoordinated movement turned violent as economic protests intertwined with political ones.
Iran’s Ilam and Lorestan provinces have emerged as hotspots. Inflaming ethnic divisions and poverty, crowds set fires in the streets and chanted “death to Khamenei” in a direct challenge to Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, who has ultimate authority over the country’s religion and state affairs.
Footage located by CNN in a public square in Iran’s far north’s Mazandaran province shows a large crowd of protesters demanding the removal of Ayatollah Khamenei.
“This is the year of blood,” they chant, “Seyyed Ali will fall.”
Another video, also geolocated, shows a fire breaking out inside a government facility in northeastern Golestan province.
A video broadcast by Reuters shows demonstrators lowering and tearing the Iranian flag in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and Khamenei’s hometown. Another video posted on social media Thursday night and seen by CNN shows a large crowd marching along a highway in the city.
In footage released by IranWire from the northwestern city of Tabriz, gunshots can be heard in the background as protesters walk down a road. It was unclear whether authorities fired live rounds, and the source of the shots was outside the frame.
The Iranian Human Rights NGO (HIRNGO) said: “The military used live ammunition to suppress the protests and carried out large-scale mass arrests in some cities.”
Meanwhile, the city of Ilam, the capital of the province of the same name, was in focus this week after injured protesters were taken to hospital before security forces raided the facility and made arrests, sparking widespread condemnation from human rights groups and prompting the government to pledge an investigation.
Iran’s state-run Fars news agency said 950 police officers and 60 members of the Basij militia were injured in the protests.
At least five security personnel, including two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were also killed in the violence, Iranian news agencies reported Thursday.
CNN cannot independently confirm the number of people killed and arrested, and Iranian state news outlets sometimes report individual deaths without providing a comprehensive tally.
The ongoing protests are the largest since large-scale and deadly protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Martha Amini in religious police custody in 2022.
This time, the Bazaar, a powerful force in changing Iran’s history and considered loyal to the regime, started protests.
In the enduring alliance between Iranian bazaars and Shiite Muslim clerics, shopkeepers have played an important role as kingmakers throughout Iranian history. Their support for these clerics ultimately helped the success of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and provided the rebels with a financial backing that led to the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and, with it, Iran’s 2,500-year-old monarchy.
The current protests are also taking place amidst growing foreign threats. Almost six months ago, Israel and the United States launched their first attack on Iran, and President Trump raised the possibility of another attack last week, just days after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During his campaign, Mr. Pezeshkian cast himself as a champion of the working class, promising economic relief through reduced government intervention in foreign exchange markets, while denouncing U.S. sanctions, corruption and excessive money printing.
But corruption across all branches of government, mismanagement of funds, converging environmental issues and stagnant leadership are pushing the government to the brink.
More than a year after his election, the very working class he swore to protect and the middle class, which forms the backbone of Iranian society, are in trouble.
External factors, such as crippling sanctions and the possibility of new wars with the United States and Israel, have made the nation paranoid and its citizens anxious.
The ongoing protests represent the biggest public challenge to the regime since June’s 12-day war with Israel.
Experts say the protests are unlikely to prompt regime change without a viable alternative to the current ruling regime, but the widespread unrest highlights the deep crisis facing the Iranian government.
Alan Keshavarjian, associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University, told CNN: “None of Iran’s political leaders have a blueprint to get Iran out of this crisis.”
“The only real tools left for the Islamic Republic are coercion and force. People have tried different methods to get their point across,” he added. “But over the past 15 years, a large segment of the population has lost trust in the government and no longer believes it has the ability or desire to actually listen to its voice and address its grievances and interests,” he said.
