Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Friday that his government would not back down in the face of mass protests, dismissing two weeks of unrest that began when the nation’s currency collapsed as the work of “vandals” eager to impress the United States.
“Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals came and destroyed a building that belonged to themselves so that they could please the president of America,” he said in a televised address, without specifying which building.
He also mocked President Donald Trump’s promise to intervene in Iran if it were to kill protesters, saying that he would do better to pay attention to problems in the United States.
“The Islamic Republic will not back down in the face of vandals,” Khamenei said.
His remarks came as Iranians were stuck without internet or phone service after authorities imposed a nationwide blackout, according to global internet monitor NetBlocks and the Iran-focused digital rights group Filterbaan. Several major airlines in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar canceled flights to cities in Iran on Friday.
Iranians took to the streets in large numbers late Thursday, their latest act of defiance as protests over the country’s ailing economy quickly grew into a more fundamental challenge to the clerical system over which Khamenei presides.
Though authorities had earlier cast some of the protesters as having legitimate grievances, the government has since doubled down on its repression of the crowds.
Human rights groups say that dozens of Iranians have been killed by security forces during the protests, including children. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released a statement Thursday saying they had confirmed the deaths of at least 28 protesters and bystanders, all shot by security forces.
Thursday’s protest came after a call by exiled former crown prince Reza Pahlavi asking Iranians to demonstrate. On Friday, Pahlavi appealed to Trump to intervene.
Khamenei, he said in a post on X, “has threatened the people on the streets with a brutal crack down. … I am asking you to help.”
“I know you are a man of peace and a man of your word,” he added. “Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran.”
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