Iran’s authorities indicated on Saturday they could intensify their crackdown on the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, with the Revolutionary Guards blaming unrest on terrorists and vowing to safeguard the governing system. There were fresh reports of violence across Iran, though an internet blackout made it difficult to assess the full extent of unrest. After nightfall on Saturday, new videos posted online purported to show fresh protests in a number of neighbourhoods in the capital, Tehran, and several cities, including Rasht in the north, Tabriz in the northwest and Shiraz and Kerman in the south.
Reuters could not immediately verify the latest videos. The exiled son of Iran’s last shah, who has emerged as a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, made his strongest call yet for the protests to broaden into a revolt to topple the clerical rulers. State media said a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, and blamed “rioters”.
State TV broadcast footage of funerals of members of the security forces it said were killed in protests in the cities of Shiraz, Qom and Hamedan. “The crowd is coming. ‘Death to the dictator’, ‘Death to Khamenei’,” he said, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Protests have spread across Iran since December 28, beginning in response to soaring inflation and quickly turning political, with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule. Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest. A senior US intelligence official described the situation as an “endurance game”.
The opposition was trying to keep up pressure until key government figures either fled or switched sides, while the authorities were trying to sow enough fear to clear the streets without giving the US justification to intervene, the official said. Iranian rights group HRANA says at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, and about 2,300 arrested. A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were deployed and opening fire in the area from which the witness was speaking, declining to be identified for safety.
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