Iran’s Khamenei lashes out as Tehran struggles to quell protests 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for “unity” in the face of “terrorist actions” as mass protests continue to rock the country.

In an address broadcast on Iranian state TV on Friday, Khamenei warned against the protests, which the authorities have framed as a plot by foreign enemies, primarily the United States, and reiterated a threat that authorities will crack down on the unrest.

Khamenei accused the protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, saying rioters were attacking public property and warning that ‍Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”. He accused Trump of having hands “stained with the blood” of Iranians.

Tehran is struggling to gain control of the situation, which has seen dozens of protesters and at least four members of the security forces killed since the demonstrations started on December 28.

While President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for restraint and for the state to listen to “genuine” grievances, other voices have warned that the authorities will show no leniency, noting that the protests have received support from “foreign foes”.

The protests over economic hardship ⁠were set off by Tehran shopkeepers angered by a sharp slide in the rial currency.

Authorities cut off access to the internet on Thursday in an apparent move to suppress the protest movement. The blackout was maintained on Friday, while the phone system was also down, and airlines cancelled flights in and out of the country.

However, videos shared by activists purported to show protesters chanting against the government around bonfires as debris littered the streets in the capital, Tehran, and other areas.

Breaking its silence on the protests on Friday, Iranian state media alleged “terrorist agents” of the US and Israel had set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were “casualties,” without elaborating.

Trump repeated on Thursday a threat that his country would not allow Tehran to kill protesters.

Iran has “been told very strongly … that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” he told an interviewer.

However, the US president has ruled out meeting with Iran’s self-proclaimed “Crown Prince” Reza Pahlavi, suggesting that Washington is not ready to back a successor to the government in Tehran, should it collapse.

Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, who was toppled by the Islamic revolution of 1979, has called for more demonstrations.

Pahlavi’s call “turned the tide” of the protests, Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Associated Press news agency, adding that social media posts show that Iranians “were taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic republic.”

“This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests,” she continued. “Unfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.”

Khamenei said in his TV address that protesters are “ruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy,” in a reference to Trump.

An audience was heard chanting: “Death to America!”