Protests in Iran appear to have calmed down, but fate of detained protesters remains uncertain – National
As Iran regained an uneasy calm after a wave of protests that led to a bloody crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric on Friday called for the death penalty for detained protesters and directly threatened US President Donald Trump – evidence of the anger gripping the Islamic Republic’s authorities.
Trump struck a conciliatory note, however, thanking Iranian leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, a further sign that he may back away from a military strike. Executions, along with the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines set by Trump for possible action against Iran.
The harsh crackdown that left several thousand dead appears to have succeeded in stifling protests that began Dec. 28 against Iran’s ailing economy and turned into demonstrations directly challenging the country’s theocracy.
There have been no signs of protest for days in Tehran, where shops and street life have returned to normal even as a week-old internet outage continues. Authorities reported no unrest elsewhere in the country.
“Iran has canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that “I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”
Trump did not say who he spoke with in Iran to confirm the status of the planned executions.
The American news agency Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated the death toll at 3,090 on Friday. This number, which exceeds that of any other wave of protests or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution, continues to rise.
The agency has been accurate throughout years of protests, relying on a network of activists in Iran that confirms all reported deaths.
The AP was unable to independently confirm the toll. The Iranian government has not provided casualty figures.
The fiery sermon of a die-hard religious man
In contrast, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami’s sermon broadcast by Iranian state radio sparked chants among those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”
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Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Iranian Experts and the Guardian Council long known for his hardline views, described the protesters as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “butlers” and “Trump soldiers.” He said Netanyahu and Trump should expect “a harsh revenge from the system.”
“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” the cleric said.
FILE – Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami delivers his sermon during the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File).
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His fiery speech came as allies Iran and the United States sought to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israeli President Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia had previously remained largely silent over the protests. Moscow has seen several key allies take blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its four-year war with Ukraine, including the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Exiled Iranian king calls for continued fight
Days after Trump promised that “help is on the way” for protesters, the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent retaliation from the United States appeared to have receded. A diplomat told The Associated Press that senior officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had expressed concerns to Trump that U.S. military intervention could shake the global economy and destabilize an already unstable region.
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the United States to keep its promise to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown in Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, said he still believed in the president’s promise of assistance.
“I believe the president is a man of his word,” Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that “whether action is taken or not, we Iranians have no choice to continue the fight.”
“I will return to Iran,” he promised. Hours later, he urged protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.
Despite support from hardline monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi struggled to gain wider popularity in Iran. But that did not prevent him from presenting himself as the leader of the transition in Iran in the event of the fall of the regime.
Iranian authorities list damage caused by protests
Khatami, the hardline cleric, also provided the first global statistics on the damage caused by the protests, saying 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy sites had suffered damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders – an important position within Iran’s theocracy – were also damaged, likely underscoring the anger protesters felt towards government symbols.
He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire engines and 50 other emergency vehicles were also damaged.
Even as protests appeared to have been suppressed in Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters took to the streets of European cities to shout their anger against the Islamic Republic’s government.
Faced with continued Internet shutdowns, some Iranians have crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern Van province on Friday, a small number of Iranians said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.
“I will return to Iran once they open the Internet,” said one traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of concern for safety.
Turkish citizens fleeing unrest in Iran have also crossed the border.
Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textile business when the protests broke out. He said he remained discreet at his hotel until it was closed for security reasons, then stayed with one of his clients until he could return to Turkey.
Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.
“I understand weapons because I served in the army in southeastern Turkey,” he said. “The weapons they were firing weren’t just weapons. They were machine guns.”
In a sign of the risk of conflict spilling across borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it had launched attacks against Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s repression of protests.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members “played a role in the protests, both through financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when necessary.” The group said the attacks were launched by members of its Iran-based military wing.
Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Will Weissert and Darlene Superville in Washington and Serra Yedikardes at the Kapikoy border crossing, Turkey, contributed.
