Tehran, Jan 10 (.) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accusing US President Donald Trump’s hands being “stained with the blood of Iranians”, today mocked Trump’s threats of using military force on Friday.
Speaking to Iranian state media here, he vowed to crush the ongoing wave of protests, accusing the demonstrators of treason, as hardline supporters gathered before him and shouted “Death to America!”
State media later branding the swathes of demonstrators “terrorists”, set the stage for an incredibly brutal crackdown, vowing zero tolerance for any disruption and intensifying the state measures to tackle the demonstrations, in direct defiance and mockery of Trump’s pledge to back the peaceful protesters with force if necessary.
On Saturday, Iran’s attorney general warned that anyone taking part in the protests would be considered an “enemy of God,” and as such be subject to capital punishment, as per the Islamic Republic’s laws.
Iran’s Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment would be “decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency”.
Saturday marked the start of the Iranian work week, but state television reported that many schools and universities had shifted to online classes, a move widely seen as an attempt to limit gatherings.
While internal government websites were believed to be operating, the wider blackout has made it difficult to independently verify the scale of protests or the number of casualties.
As official warnings intensified, state television repeatedly aired images of pro-government rallies set to a martial orchestral score from the ‘Epic of Khorramshahr’ by composer Majid Entezami.
The song, associated with Iran’s wartime narratives, commemorates the 1982 recapture of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war and was heavily used during last year’s 12-day conflict with Israel. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.
The comments came as protests continued to rage across Iran late on Friday, and further intensifying on Saturday, despite a sweeping communications blackout and stark warnings from the country’s clerical leadership of extreme punishment; death included, as online videos of protesters defying the intense security crackdown, and the brutality of the state machinery were immediately censored and taken down, as a near nationwide internet blockade was imposed, with authorities in Tehran severing phone lines, effectively severing communications with the outside world.
As per an external rights group, with sources inside Iran, a reported count of at least 65 people have been killed since the protests erupted in Tehran in late December, initially over spiralling prices and economic hardship.
The demonstrations have since spread nationwide, evolving into the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic in years, with slogans increasingly targeting the political system itself.
The unrest appeared to draw momentum from repeated expressions of support by the administration of Trump and from calls by Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, who urged protesters on Saturday to overwhelm security forces and seize control of towns and cities.
While both the state and the protesters have refused to budge, it is noted that Iranian authorities could face great difficulty in continuing its brutal crackdown, as it has historically done so, due to its dire economy, massive international pressure, diplomatic isolation and a highly emboldened anti-theocracy wave of dissenters, refusing to bow to the crackdown.
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