Iranians take to streets in Tehran despite internet blackout

Iranians marched in several cities, including Tehran, on Friday night, marking the 13th day of the largest anti-government protest movement in more than three years, a movement that prompted authorities to impose a nationwide internet shutdown.

Despite the communications blackout, residents took to main roads in the capital, according to AFP-verified video and images shared on social media. Some protesters beat on pots and pans and chanted slogans against the government, including “Death to Khamenei,” referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader. In the northwestern Tehran neighborhood of Sadatabad, the demonstrations were accompanied by a chorus of car horns, as seen in the verified footage.

Other videos and social media posts showed similar protests elsewhere in Tehran, while Persian-language TV channels abroad aired footage of large gatherings in Mashhad, Tabriz, and the holy city of Qom. U.S. President Donald Trump said, “It seems to me that the people are taking control of certain cities, something nobody would've believed possible just a few weeks ago,” claiming Iran faced “big problems.” He had also warned the day before that the U.S. would “hit Iran very hard” if authorities responded by killing protesters.

Shirin Ebadi, the exiled Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, expressed concern over a potential “massacre under the cover of total blackout,” noting that connectivity has dropped to just 1 percent of normal levels, according to cybersecurity watchdog Netblocks. Ebadi added that hundreds of people had been taken to Tehran hospitals on Thursday with “serious eye injuries” from pellet gunfire.

Messages of Resolve

At least 51 protesters, including nine children, have been killed, and hundreds more injured across Iran since the demonstrations began on Dec. 28, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.

Iranian TV showed footage of property damage on Friday, citing Tehran’s mayor, who reported more than 42 buses, public vehicles, and ambulances burned, along with ten government buildings. A prosecutor from Esfarayen in eastern Iran, along with several security personnel, were killed Thursday night during protests, according to the judiciary.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Iran would “not back down” in the face of unrest, addressing supporters who chanted back “Death to America.” The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, called the situation “unacceptable” and pledged to protect the Islamic Revolution. The judiciary announced that punishment for “rioters” would be “maximum.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. and Israel of interfering in the protests, while ruling out the possibility of foreign military intervention. The U.S. State Department dismissed these claims as a “delusional attempt at distraction.”

Crackdown and International Response

The protests are the largest in Iran since those following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested for violating strict dress codes for women.

The unrest comes as Iran faces the economic and military strain of conflict with Israel and setbacks to several regional allies, alongside renewed UN sanctions on its nuclear program since September. Security forces have used pellet guns, water cannons, tear gas and beatings. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned these methods in a joint statement, saying they were being used “to disperse, intimidate, and punish largely peaceful protesters.”

In a joint declaration, the European Union, Canada and Australia praised “the courage of the Iranian people defending their dignity and their fundamental right to protest peacefully.” They added: “We strongly condemn the deaths of protesters, the use of violence, arbitrary arrests, and the intimidation tactics employed by the Iranian regime against its own population.”