Iran cut off from world
Reuters :
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb expanding protests, with phone calls not reaching the country, flights cancelled and online Iranian news sites only intermittently updating.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”.
Meanwhile, at least 45 people, including eight children, have been killed since protests began in Iran, with more than 2,000 others arrested, according to the human rights group Iran Human Rights.
In a statement issued on Thursday, January 8, the 12th day of the protests, the organisation said hundreds of protesters have also been injured during nationwide demonstrations. It said 13 people were killed on Wednesday alone.
According to the report, Iranian security forces have used live ammunition against protesters and carried out widespread and mass arrests in several cities as part of an intensifying crackdown.
Iran Human Rights strongly condemned the violence, describing the use of live ammunition against demonstrators as an international crime. The group called for an immediate and decisive response from the international community.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, said: “The evidence shows that the scope of the crackdown is becoming more violent and more extensive every day. The United Nations and the international community have a responsibility to act decisively, within the framework of international law, to prevent the mass killing of protesters.”
The organisation said it has received additional reports of fatalities from multiple cities across Iran and is in the process of verifying the information, warning that the death toll could rise if the reports are confirmed.
According to the report, Iranian security forces have used live ammunition against protesters and carried out widespread and mass arrests in several cities as part of an intensifying crackdown.
The protests, which began over an inflationary spiral, have not approached the scale of unrest three years ago but have spread across Iran with dozens reported dead and the authorities looking more vulnerable because of a dire economy and the aftermath of last year’s war with Israel and the United States.
Iranian rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where the Baluch minority predominates, was met by gunfire that wounded several people.
Iran’s fragmented external opposition factions called for more protests on Friday with Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late ruling shah, telling Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets.”
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and who last week warned Tehran it could come to the protesters’ aid, said on Friday he would not meet Pahlavi and was “not sure that it would be appropriate” to support him.
Images published by state television overnight showed what it said were burning buses, cars and motorbikes as well as fires at metro stations and banks.
It accused the People’s Mujahedin Organisation, an opposition faction that splintered off after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is also known as the MKO, of orchestrating the unrest.
A state TV journalist standing in front of the fires on Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea port of Rasht said: “This looks like a war zone – all the shops have been destroyed.”
Videos verified by Reuters as having been taken in the capital Tehran showed hundreds of people marching. In one of the videos, a woman could be heard shouting, “Death to Khamenei!”
Iran has quelled far bigger bouts of unrest before, but it now faces a graver economic situation and intensifying international pressure with global sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme reimposed since September.
The authorities have tried a dual approach – describing protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told lawmakers that the voices of protesters must be heard but that any cases linked to “foreign spy networks” must be handled differently.
The Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in Iran above the elected president and parliament, used tougher language in his speech on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people. It will not back down in the face of vandals,” he said, accusing those involved in unrest of seeking to please Trump.
While the initial protests were focused on the economy, with the rial currency losing half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topping 40 percent in December, they have morphed to include slogans directly against the authorities.
Protesters have chanted slogans including “death to the dictator” and praising the former monarchy that was overthrown in 1979. The extent of support inside Iran for the monarchy or for the MKO, the most vocal groups among émigré Iranians, is disputed.
Most of the demonstrators seen in videos viewed by Reuters, many of which it has been unable to verify, have been young men.
Iran blocked off the internet overnight. Reuters reporters trying to place phone calls to Iran from abroad were unable to do so on Friday.
At least six flights between Dubai and Iranian cities scheduled for Friday were cancelled, the Dubai Airport website showed.