For two weeks, Iranians have taken to the streets in demonstrations against the government, considered the biggest since 2022, amid worsening economic pressure
The American president, encouraged this Tuesday (13) the protesters in to maintain the movement and to overthrow the authorities of the Islamic Republic, whose repression of protests has already.
Iranian authorities insist they are regaining control after successive demonstrations, which began two weeks ago.
Initially, the marches were against the cost of living, but they turned into a movement against the theocratic regime that has governed the country since the 1979 revolution and which, since 1989, has been led by supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Internationally, the tone has hardened. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, declared himself “horrified” by the repression, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that sanctions will be proposed “swiftly” in response to the “terrifying” number of deaths.
Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark and Germany summoned Iranian diplomats to express their “condemnation” of the repression of protests.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP THE DEMONSTRATIONS. TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR INSTITUTIONS,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I have canceled all meetings with Iranian authorities until they STOP this senseless massacre of protesters.
In turn, the Iranian representation at the UN published in X that Washington’s “manual” “will fail again”.
“United States fantasies and policy toward Iran are based on regime change, with sanctions, threats, orchestrated riots and chaos as modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the text adds.
Trump has threatened on several occasions to intervene militarily and, now, in an attempt to intensify the pressure, he has announced that he will “immediately” impose 25% tariffs on the Islamic Republic’s trading partners.
Although the international telephone connection was reestablished this Tuesday, Iranians have remained without internet access since January 8, which human rights organizations denounce as an attempt to hide the magnitude of the bloodshed.
Trump threatened to act “very strongly” if Iranian authorities begin executing protesters, after Tehran’s Public Prosecutor’s Office said capital crime charges of “moharebeh” (“war against God”) will be filed against some of the suspects detained in the protests.
‘Large-scale massacres’
In the past, there have been cases where these charges have led to the death penalty.
The NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway, reported on Tuesday that it had verified 734 deaths, including nine minors, but warned that the real death toll could exceed 6,000. The NGO also reported that more than 10,000 people were detained.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) added that there are “credible reports that security forces are carrying out large-scale massacres.”
Videos published on social networks and geolocated by AFP show bodies lined up in a mosque, south of the capital.
“Violence is increasing, so are arrests. The oppressors shoot indiscriminately,” Kian Tahsildari reported from Istanbul, citing the testimony of friends in Mashhad, northeastern Iran.
According to state media, dozens of members of the security forces died in the protests. Their funerals turned into huge demonstrations in favor of the government, which declared three days of official mourning.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that the government ordered the internet to be blocked after “coming across terrorist operations and realizing that the orders were coming from outside the country.”
Regarding Trump’s threats, he added: “We are prepared for any eventuality and hope that Washington will choose a sensible option.”
Call of the Pahlavi
At 86 years old, Ayatollah Khamenei has faced a series of challenges, such as the 12-day war with Israel in June, triggered by a massive attack on the Islamic Republic’s military and nuclear facilities.
Still, these demonstrations “represent the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic in years, both because of their scope and their increasingly explicit political demands,” Nicole Grajewski, professor at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po, in Paris, told AFP.
Reza Pahlavi, son of the shah deposed in 1979 and an exiled opposition figure in the United States, urged security forces to “stand with the people.” His mother, Farah Pahlavi, 87, also in exile, urged Iranian security forces to “listen to the cries of anguish and anger of the protesters” and to “join the [seus] brothers and sisters before it is too late.”
*With AFP
