Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has declared that the Islamic Republic will not retreat in the face of growing nationwide protests triggered by rising living costs, despite escalating demonstrations across major cities.
In his first public reaction since the unrest began nearly two weeks ago, Khamenei struck a defiant tone on Friday, dismissing protesters as “vandals” and “saboteurs” during a speech broadcast on state television.
The protests intensified late Thursday, with large crowds marching through key urban centres, chanting slogans such as “death to the dictator” and setting fire to government buildings and other official facilities. Internet monitoring group Netblocks reported that Iranian authorities imposed a nationwide internet blackout late Thursday, noting that the country had been offline for about 12 hours in what it described as an effort to suppress the demonstrations.
The unrest is regarded as one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s clerical leadership in more than four decades, with protesters openly calling for an end to the country’s theocratic system of governance.
Addressing supporters, Khamenei accused the United States and its allies of fomenting unrest, claiming that US President Donald Trump’s hands were “stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians,” a reference to the recent Israel-Iran conflict supported by Washington. He predicted that Trump would eventually be overthrown, likening his fate to that of Iran’s former imperial rulers before the 1979 revolution.
“The Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people, and it will not back down in the face of saboteurs,” Khamenei said, as supporters chanted anti-American slogans.
Trump, in a statement late Thursday, said enthusiasm for toppling Iran’s leadership was “incredible” and warned that severe consequences would follow if protesters were killed.
Videos verified by AFP showed massive crowds filling sections of Tehran’s Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard, with chants directed at Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989. Similar protests were reported in cities including Tabriz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Kermanshah, and Shazand, where footage appeared to show fires at government buildings and a regional state television office.
The latest demonstrations are the largest since the 2022–2023 protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Human rights groups have accused security forces of using live ammunition against protesters in the current unrest, resulting in dozens of deaths, though some recent footage did not show visible security intervention.
Meanwhile, US-based Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s last shah, called for even larger protests on Friday, saying Thursday’s rallies demonstrated that mass participation could weaken the regime’s repressive capacity. He urged Iranians to expand the demonstrations to further erode the government’s control.
