Iran was plunged into a nationwide internet blackout Thursday evening as mass anti-government protests spread around the country, with Iranians shouting slogans against the ruling theocratic regime as anger mounts over economic turmoil and security crackdowns.
Authorities cut internet access and telephone lines immediately after Thursday’s protests in the capital Tehran and other major cities began, although the blackout did not immediately prevent the posting of videos of the protests, now well into their second week.
“National blackouts tend to be the regime’s go-to strategy when deadly force is about to get used against protesters,” Alp Toker, director of cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks, told CNN, “with the goal being to prevent the spread of news of what’s happening on ground, and also to limit international scrutiny.”
From as far west as Ilam, a Kurdish-majority region bordering Iraq, to Tehran and Mashhad, in the northeast near the Afghan border, people in more than 100 cities have taken to the streets since protests first erupted 12 days ago. Authorities have reverted to their tested playbook of cracking down without offering viable solutions to grievances driving public anger.
At least 45 protesters, including eight children, have been killed since demonstrations began, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) reported Thursday. It said hundreds more have been injured and over 2,000 people detained.
At least some of the protesters appeared to be heeding a call by exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to turn out Thursday. One of the slogans shouted by the marchers was “This is the last battle, Pahlavi will return,” according to video reviewed by CNN.
As the latest protests unfolded, Pahlavi posted encouragement on X, urging Iranians to “take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands.” He added, “Rise Iran!”
Footage verified by CNN showed mass protests in cities across Iran, with demonstrators blocking roads and setting fires in the streets of the capital. In the videos, opposing factions demonstrating across the country rallied around chants in support of and opposition to the Iranian government.
The unrest prompted US President Donald Trump on Thursday to repeat his threat to attack Iran if security forces kill protesters.
“I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots … we’re going to hit them very hard,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
What began as organized protests in Tehran’s bazaars and universities has morphed into thousands marching through the streets in a movement that has increased pressure on the ruling regime. Protests turned violent after the deployment of government security forces.
Millions of Iranians are grappling with rampant inflation and a plummeting currency and everyday items and medicine have become unaffordable for many.
“This feels different because it’s about the people’s buying power, and people really can’t afford anything,” said a 30-year-old Tehran resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Prices keep going up almost hour-by-hour at this point, but how it ends no one really knows … Everyone feels worried.”
Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that the protests had expanded beyond economic matters.
“This is very clear that they’re saying that this regime can no longer be reformed. So they’re saying we want an end to the Islamic Republic,” Alinejad said.
She added that this wave of demonstrations felt different than before.
“I even smell the freedom,” Alinejad said, “When people go to the streets, they show their face. They say that we have no fear because we have nothing to lose.”
How did the protests start?
When shopkeepers in the narrow streets of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar protested the government’s failing economic policies, their chants rattled the regime.
Exacerbating the situation, the central bank decided last week to end a program allowing some importers to access cheaper US dollars compared to the rest of the market — a decision that led shopkeepers to increase prices.
Prices of basic goods like cooking oil and chicken dramatically spiked overnight, and some products vanished all together. The volatility pushed the bazaaris to close shop, a drastic measure for a group traditionally supportive of the Islamic Republic.
After days of protests and crackdowns, the reformist-ruled government attempted to alleviate the pressure by offering direct cash handouts of almost $7 per month, although it said at the same time that this measure alone could not solve the crisis.
“We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a televised speech Monday.
Experts said the leaderless and uncoordinated movement turned violent as economic protests intertwined with political ones.
How big are the protests now?
Iranian provinces Ilam and Lorestan, have emerged as hot spots. Fueled by ethnic division and poverty, crowds set fires in the streets and chanted “Death to Khamenei,” directly challenging Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority over the nation’s religious and state affairs.
Video geolocated by CNN to a public square in Mazandaran provice in Iran’s far north shows a large crowd of protesters calling for the removal of Khamenei.
“This is the year of blood,” they chant, “Seyyed Ali (Khamenei) is going to fall.”
Another piece of footage, also geolocated, shows a fire raging inside a government complex in northeast Golestan province.
In Mashhad — Iran’s second-largest city and Khamenei’s hometown — demonstrators can be seen lowered and tearing apart an Iranian flag, in video distributed by Reuters.
And in footage released by IranWire from the northwest city of Tabriz, shots could be heard in the background as protesters walked on a roadway. It was unclear whether the shots were from authorities using live rounds, and the source of the shots was out of frame.
The Iran Human Rights NGO (HIRNGO) said, “State forces have used live ammunition to suppress the protests and have carried out widespread, mass arrests in some cities.”
Meanwhile, the city of Ilam, capital of the province of the same name, became a focal point this week after wounded protesters were taken to a hospital, only for security forces to subsequently raid the facility and arrest them in an incident that sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and prompted the government to promise an investigation.
Iranian state-affiliated Fars News Agency said 950 police officers and 60 personnel from the paramilitary Basij force have been injured in the protests.
Iranian news outlets reported Thursday that at least five security personnel have also been killed in the unrest, including two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
CNN could not independently verify the numbers of those killed and arrested, and Iranian state news organizations have sometimes reported individual deaths without providing a comprehensive tally.
How are protests different this time?
The ongoing protests are the biggest since the large-scale and deadly protests that were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the religious police in 2022.
This time, the bazaaris, a powerful force for change in Iran’s history and one that is seen as loyal to the regime, began the protests.
In an enduring alliance between the bazaaris and the Shiite Muslim clergy in Iran, the shopkeepers have played a crucial role as kingmakers across Iran’s history. It was their support for those clergymen that eventually helped the Islamic Revolution of 1979 succeed, giving the rebels a financial backbone that led to the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and, with it, the collapse of Iran’s 2,500-year-old monarchy.
The current protests also take place under rising foreign threats. Just over six months ago, Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran for the first time, with Trump raising the prospect of new attacks last week, just days after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What does it mean for the regime?
During his campaign, Pezeshkian positioned himself as a champion of the working class, promising economic relief through reduced government intervention in the currency market while also blaming US sanctions, corruption and excessive money printing.
But corruption across all parts of government, mismanagement of funds and the convergence of environmental problems and stagnant leadership have the government on the brink.
More than a year after he was voted in, the very working class he vowed to protect and the middle class that forms the backbone of the Iranian society are struggling.
External factors such as crippling sanctions and a potential new war with the United States and Israel have left the state paranoid and the population anxious.
The ongoing protests are the biggest public challenge to the regime since the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Experts say that without a viable alternative to the current ruling system, protests are unlikely to instigate regime change, yet the widespread unrest underscores the profound crises confronting Iran’s government.
“None of Iran’s political leaders have a blueprint to get Iran out the crises,” Arang Keshavarzian, an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University, told CNN.
“The only tool that the Islamic Republic truly has left is coercion and force. People have tried different methods to air their views,” he added. “But over the past 15 years, large segments of the population have lost trust in the regime and don’t believe they are able and willing to actually listen to them and address their grievances and interests,” he said.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq, Max Saltman, Avery Schmitz and Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed to this report.