Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday warned US President Donald Trump that he would be brought down, as he spoke about protests and accused foreign-backed forces of trying to destabilize Iran.
Millions of Iranian protesters filled the streets across the country on the 12th day of nationwide protests, with human rights groups saying at least 42 people including five minors have been killed so far.
What happened in Iran on Thursday night was not simply another protest. Coordinated mass demonstrations unfolded nationwide in response to a direct call from Prince Reza Pahlavi that specified not only the action but also the timing.
It began with metal shutters dropping in Tehran. At two neighboring shopping centers, shopkeepers on Dec. 28 pulled down their doors as security forces moved in, and the first chants rose from the corridors into the street.
The Western Iranian province of Ilam has emerged as one of the epicenters of nationwide protests, with some of the deadliest confrontations yet between demonstrators and security forces.
Iran’s protest slogans have shifted from reformist appeals in the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations to more prominent calls to reinstate the monarchy ousted in 1979, transcending Tehran's central political divide between moderates and hardliners.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s authorities against killing protesters amid nationwide demonstrations on Thursday, praising Iranians as “brave people.”
Iranian officials have begun publicly blaming one another and foreign foes for ongoing unrest across the country, exposing sharp divisions in Tehran on one of the greatest challenges yet to the Islamic Republic.
Tehran appears to be placing growing emphasis on its ballistic missile program amid continued domestic unrest and the looming possibility of US intervention in support of protesters in Iran.
There is a cruel ritual in Iranian opposition politics: some voices abroad constantly interrogate the “purity” of activists inside—why they did not speak more sharply or endorse maximalist slogans, why survival itself looks insufficiently heroic.
The Iran projected on social media these days—brunch parties, rooftop concerts, fashion shows—is real, but only as a tiny fragment of the country’s reality, where most ordinary people struggle to make ends meet.
Chinese independent refiners are expected to increasingly rely on Iranian heavy crude in the coming months, as Venezuelan oil shipments to China stall after the United States moved to redirect Venezuelan exports, traders and analysts told Reuters.
Iran’s rial fell to a fresh record low on Tuesday on unofficial markets, with the US dollar quoted at about 1.47 million rials as authorities seek to defuse public anger over soaring prices.
International Security and Law Analyst
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
