By Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities imposed an internet blackout to prevent widening protests, with phone calls not reaching the country, flights canceled and online Iranian news sites updating intermittently.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump and warned that rioters were attacking public property and that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”.
The protests, sparked by spiraling inflation, have not reached the levels of unrest three years ago but have spread across Iran, with dozens of deaths reported and authorities increasingly vulnerable to a struggling economy and the fallout from last year’s wars with Israel and the United States.
Photos of Iranian cities burning
The Iranian rights group Hengau reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, a town dominated by the Baloch minority, was met by gunmen, injuring several people.
Iran’s fractured external opposition factions called for more protests on Friday, with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late ruler Shah, telling Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are on you. Come to the streets.”
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week that he might come to the aid of the protesters, said on Friday that he would not meet Pahlavi and was not sure if it “would be appropriate” to support him.
Images published overnight by state television showed burning buses, cars and motorbikes, as well as metro stations and banks. It accused the People’s Mujahideen Organization, an opposition faction that split 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 flames on Shariati Street in the country’s Caspian Sea port said: “It looks like a war zone – all the shops have been destroyed.”
In the video, which was verified by Reuters as being filmed in the capital Tehran, hundreds of people are seen taking part in the rally. In one video, a woman shouted, “Death to Khamenei!” can be heard shouting.
Iran has faced major turmoil before, but now faces dire economic conditions and international pressure with global sanctions reimposed since September over its disputed nuclear program.
The supreme leader’s warning to the protestors
Authorities have tried a two-pronged approach — describing protests over the economy as legitimate while denouncing what they call violent riots and cracking down on security forces.
Parliament Speaker Mohamed Baqer Qalibaf told lawmakers that the voices of protesters should be heard but that any issue related to “foreign spy networks” should be handled differently.
Iran’s elected president and supreme leader above parliament used strong language in his speech on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people. It will not back down in the face of sabotage,” he said, accusing those involved in the unrest to please Trump.
With the riyal currency losing half its value against the dollar in the past year and inflation topping 40% in December, initial protests focused on the economy have morphed to include slogans directly against the authorities.
Demonstrators chanted slogans including “death to the dictator” and praised the former monarchy, which was overthrown in 1979. Within Iran the extent of support for the monarchy, or MKO, the most vocal group among expatriate Iranians is disputed.
Most of the protesters seen in videos seen by Reuters, most of whom could not be verified, were young men.
Iran shut down the internet overnight. Reuters reporters trying to make phone calls to Iran from abroad were unable to do so on Friday.
At least six flights scheduled for Friday between Dubai and Iranian cities were cancelled, the Dubai Airports website showed.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Dubai Newsroom; Additional reporting by Vinaya K and Marine Delru; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
