Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s last shah, urged protesters on Friday to escalate demonstrations by seizing and holding city centres, as nationwide unrest and a sweeping internet blackout entered their third week.
“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets,” Pahlavi said in a video message posted on social media. “The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres.”
Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, praised what he called a “magnificent” turnout at recent protests and called for more targeted demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday. He also said he was preparing to return to Iran, adding that the moment was “very near.”
Rights groups have raised alarm over the communications shutdown, warning it could conceal a violent crackdown. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 51 people have been killed so far in the unrest.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi warned that security forces could be preparing a “massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout.”
Iranian authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed. In a defiant speech on Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei condemned protesters as “vandals,” vowed the Islamic Republic would “not back down,” and blamed the United States for fomenting the unrest, a claim echoed by other Iranian officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday again declined to rule out further military action against Iran, following Washington’s support for Israel during a 12-day conflict with Iran in June.
“Iran’s in big trouble,” Trump said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago.”
Asked about his message to Iran’s leadership, Trump said: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
