Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi on Saturday called for nationwide strikes and sustained street protests, urging citizens to intensify pressure on what he described as the “Islamic Republic’s worn-out and fragile repression apparatus.”
In a post on X, Pahlavi praised Iranians for their courage and steadfastness, saying their renewed presence on the streets across the country on Friday evening had earned global admiration.
He said the next phase of action should involve making street mobilisations more targeted while simultaneously cutting off the state’s financial lifelines.
To that end, he invited workers and employees in key sectors of the economy, particularly transportation, oil, gas and energy, to begin a nationwide strike.
“Also, I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday (January 10 and 11), this time, from 6 pm, to come to the streets with flags, images, and national symbols and claim public spaces as your own. Our goal is no longer merely to come to the streets; the goal is to prepare for seizing the centers of cities and holding them,” he wrote in Persian in a post on X, as he also announced his homecoming.
“I too am preparing to return to the homeland so that at the time of our national revolution's victory, I can be beside you, the great nation of Iran. I believe that day is very near,” he added.
Pahlavi’s family fled Iran months before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and his father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last monarch of Iran, which has been under clerical leadership since his ouster.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned on Saturday that safeguarding security was a "red line" and the military vowed to protect public property.
US backs Iranian protesters
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed Washington’s support for protesters after Iranian authorities blacked out the internet in an effort to curb anti-government demonstrations raging across the country.
“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio posted on X.
US President Donald Trump, however, has adopted a cautious approach amid some US predictions that the unrest may not be widespread enough to challenge Tehran’s clerical establishment.
In recent days, Trump warned Iranian leaders that there would be “hell to pay” if they cracked down on the protest movement, while otherwise maintaining a wait-and-see stance.
“You better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.
The protests mark the latest in a series of major demonstrations that have rocked Iran, with the US repeatedly speaking up on the side of the opposition. Trump said he was not inclined at present to meet Reza Pahlavi, signalling that he was waiting to see how the crisis unfolds before backing an opposition figure.
“I think that we should let everybody go out there and see who emerges,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. “I’m not sure necessarily that it would be an appropriate thing to do.”
In a post on Friday, Pahlavi urged Trump to become more involved in the crisis with his “attention, support and action.”
“You have proven and I know you are a man of peace and a man of your word. Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran,” he said.
Army says 'terrorist groups' seek to undermine security
Authorities continued to impose an internet blackout.
A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were deployed and opening fire in the area from which they were speaking, declining to be identified for their safety.
The Iranian military operates separately to the IRGC - an elite force tasked with defending Iran's Islamic Revolution and which authorities have deployed to quell previous unrest. Both forces are commanded by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a statement published by semi-official news sites, the military accused Israel and "hostile terrorist groups" of seeking to "undermine the country's public security".
"The Army, under the command of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, together with other armed forces, in addition to monitoring enemy movements in the region, will resolutely protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure, and public property," it said.
US intelligence doubts protests can unseat Khamenei
Earlier this week, a US intelligence community assessment concluded that the protests were not large enough to challenge the leadership of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to a source familiar with US intelligence reports.
Analysts, however, were monitoring developments closely.
“Prior to the last 24 hours the protests were broadly concentrated in cities where opposition to the regime has always been a thing. Moving to strongholds (like the Supreme Leader's hometown of Mashad) is the significant development,” the source said.
“We don’t comment on matters of intelligence. As the President has stated repeatedly, if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, ‘They will get hit very hard,'” a White House spokesperson said.
The agitation began last month in a few markets in the capital Tehran over economic woes and later snowballed into a nationwide uprising. It has now spread to 512 locations across 180 cities in 31 provinces, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
At least 65 people have been killed and more than 2,300 detained since the agitation began on December 28, according to rights groups.
Trump and Khamenei have continued to trade barbs, with Iran’s Supreme Leader accusing the US President of having the blood of Iranians on his hands, referring to the 12-day war in June in which he claimed more than a thousand Iranians were killed.