Crowds are taking to the streets of the capital Tehran and other cities in what is already being considered the greatest show of force in recent years by opponents of the clerical regime that dominates Iran.

In videos posted on social media, protesters can be heard calling for the ouster of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late former shah, who had urged his supporters to take to the streets.

Images of peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, on Thursday night (08/01), were verified by BBC Persian.

Internet monitoring agency NetBlocks claims to have detected a “national blackout” in Iran.

“Real-time metrics show that Iran is in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout; the incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures against protests across the country and undermines the population’s right to communication at a critical time,” says a statement from NetBlocks.

This was the 12th consecutive day of demonstrations, triggered by outrage over the collapse of the Iranian currency and which soon turned into protests of widespread dissatisfaction with the government.

Initially, traders took to the streets of Tehran to express their outrage at yet another sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial, against the US dollar on the parallel market.

The rial hit a historic low last year and inflation soared to 40% as sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program put pressure on an economy already weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.

College students soon joined the protests, which began to spread to other cities, with crowds often chanting slogans critical of the clergy at the head of power in the country.

Protests since December 28 have engulfed more than 100 cities and towns in all 31 Iranian provinces, according to rights groups.

The US-based HRANA (Human Rights Activist News Agency) news agency said that at least 34 protesters and eight members of the security forces were killed, and that another 2,270 protesters were arrested.

Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR) said at least 45 protesters, including eight children, were killed by security forces.

BBC Persian confirmed the deaths and the identities of 21 people, while Iranian authorities reported the deaths of six members of the security forces.

Videos verified by BBC Persian from Thursday night show a large crowd of protesters moving along a major avenue in Mashhad, in the northeast of the country.

You can hear shouts of “Long live the shah” and “This is the final battle! Pahlavi will return.”

At one point, several men are seen climbing onto an overpass and removing what appear to be surveillance cameras.

Another video shows a large crowd of protesters walking along a major avenue in eastern Tehran, while in the north of the city a small group was heard chanting “Long live the shah” and “Death to the dictator” — a reference to Khamenei.

Protesters were also filmed shouting “Long live the shah” in a main square in the northern city of Babol.

Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and lives in Washington DC, the capital of the United States, called on Iranians to “take to the streets and, as a united front, shout their demands”.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media is downplaying the scale of the protests and, in some cases, denying that they are taking place.

Several state-controlled channels have published videos of empty streets in cities such as Shiraz, Isfahan, Sanandaj and Bushehr, claiming that the situation is normal.

Occurrences in Tehran are being described as the result of the actions of a small number of “violent protesters”.

Earlier, footage from Lomar, a small town in the western province of Ilam, showed a crowd chanting “Cannons, tanks, fireworks, the mullahs must leave” — a reference to the clergy who run the country.

Another video shows people throwing papers into the air in front of a bank that appeared to have been invaded.

There are also images of closed shops in several predominantly Kurdish cities and towns in Ilam, as well as in the provinces of Kermanshah and Lorestan.

Exiled Kurdish opposition groups have called for a general strike in response to the violent crackdown on protests in the region.

At least 17 protesters were killed by security forces in Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan during the unrest, and many of them were members of the Kurdish or Lor ethnic minorities, according to Kurdish rights group Hengaw.

On Wednesday, there were violent clashes between protesters and security forces in several locations.

The IHR organization said it was the deadliest day of the protests, with 13 protesters killed across the country.

“The evidence shows that the repression is becoming more violent and pervasive by the day,” said the group’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

This Thursday, US President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to intervene militarily if Iranian authorities kill protesters.

“I made it clear to them that if they start killing people, which they often do during their protests — and they have a lot of protests — if they do that, we are going to come at them very hard,” Trump said in an interview with the radio program The Hugh Hewitt Show.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had previously called on security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” when dealing with peaceful protests.

“Any violent or coercive behavior must be avoided,” a statement said.

Khamenei, who holds supreme power in Iran, said on Saturday that authorities should “talk to protesters” but that “rioters must be put in their place.”

The protests are already the biggest since 2022, when there was great commotion in the country over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab correctly.

More than 550 people were killed and 20,000 detained by security forces over several months, according to human rights groups.

The biggest protests since the Islamic Revolution occurred in 2009, when millions of Iranians took to the streets of major cities following a contested presidential election.

Dozens of opponents of the regime were killed and thousands detained.

Crowds are taking to the streets of the capital Tehran and other cities in what is already being considered the greatest show of force in recent years by opponents of the clerical regime that dominates Iran.

In videos posted on social media, protesters can be heard calling for the ouster of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late former shah, who had urged his supporters to take to the streets.

Images of peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, on Thursday night (08/01), were verified by BBC Persian.

Internet monitoring agency NetBlocks claims to have detected a “national blackout” in Iran.

“Real-time metrics show that Iran is in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout; the incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures against protests across the country and undermines the population’s right to communication at a critical time,” says a statement from NetBlocks.

This was the 12th consecutive day of demonstrations, triggered by outrage over the collapse of the Iranian currency and which soon turned into protests of widespread dissatisfaction with the government.

Initially, traders took to the streets of Tehran to express their outrage at yet another sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial, against the US dollar on the parallel market.

The rial hit a historic low last year and inflation soared to 40% as sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program put pressure on an economy already weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.

College students soon joined the protests, which began to spread to other cities, with crowds often chanting slogans critical of the clergy at the head of power in the country.

Protests since December 28 have engulfed more than 100 cities and towns in all 31 Iranian provinces, according to rights groups.

The US-based HRANA (Human Rights Activist News Agency) news agency said that at least 34 protesters and eight members of the security forces were killed, and that another 2,270 protesters were arrested.

Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR) said at least 45 protesters, including eight children, were killed by security forces.

BBC Persian confirmed the deaths and the identities of 21 people, while Iranian authorities reported the deaths of six members of the security forces.

Videos verified by BBC Persian from Thursday night show a large crowd of protesters moving along a major avenue in Mashhad, in the northeast of the country.

You can hear shouts of “Long live the shah” and “This is the final battle! Pahlavi will return.”

At one point, several men are seen climbing onto an overpass and removing what appear to be surveillance cameras.

Another video shows a large crowd of protesters walking along a major avenue in eastern Tehran, while in the north of the city a small group was heard chanting “Long live the shah” and “Death to the dictator” — a reference to Khamenei.

Protesters were also filmed shouting “Long live the shah” in a main square in the northern city of Babol.

Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and lives in Washington DC, the capital of the United States, called on Iranians to “take to the streets and, as a united front, shout their demands”.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media is downplaying the scale of the protests and, in some cases, denying that they are taking place.

Several state-controlled channels have published videos of empty streets in cities such as Shiraz, Isfahan, Sanandaj and Bushehr, claiming that the situation is normal.

Occurrences in Tehran are being described as the result of the actions of a small number of “violent protesters”.

Earlier, footage from Lomar, a small town in the western province of Ilam, showed a crowd chanting “Cannons, tanks, fireworks, the mullahs must leave” — a reference to the clergy who run the country.

Another video shows people throwing papers into the air in front of a bank that appeared to have been invaded.

There are also images of closed shops in several predominantly Kurdish cities and towns in Ilam, as well as in the provinces of Kermanshah and Lorestan.

Exiled Kurdish opposition groups have called for a general strike in response to the violent crackdown on protests in the region.

At least 17 protesters were killed by security forces in Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan during the unrest, and many of them were members of the Kurdish or Lor ethnic minorities, according to Kurdish rights group Hengaw.

On Wednesday, there were violent clashes between protesters and security forces in several locations.

The IHR organization said it was the deadliest day of the protests, with 13 protesters killed across the country.

“The evidence shows that the repression is becoming more violent and pervasive by the day,” said the group’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

This Thursday, US President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to intervene militarily if Iranian authorities kill protesters.

“I made it clear to them that if they start killing people, which they often do during their protests — and they have a lot of protests — if they do that, we are going to come at them very hard,” Trump said in an interview with the radio program The Hugh Hewitt Show.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had previously called on security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” when dealing with peaceful protests.

“Any violent or coercive behavior must be avoided,” a statement said.

Khamenei, who holds supreme power in Iran, said on Saturday that authorities should “talk to protesters” but that “rioters must be put in their place.”

The protests are already the biggest since 2022, when there was great commotion in the country over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab correctly.

More than 550 people were killed and 20,000 detained by security forces over several months, according to human rights groups.

The biggest protests since the Islamic Revolution occurred in 2009, when millions of Iranians took to the streets of major cities following a contested presidential election.

Dozens of opponents of the regime were killed and thousands detained.