Iran protests enter day 13 as internet blackout spreads nationwide

Iran’s nationwide unrest entered its thirteenth day on Friday, as authorities imposed a sweeping web blackout that largely minimize off the nation from the surface world and escalated threats of harsh punishment as anti-regime protests unfold. Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) reported this that a minimum of 51 protesters, together with 9 youngsters, have been killed and a whole bunch extra injured.

At a information convention in Washington DC on Friday, President Donald Trump mentioned Iran is beneath growing strain as unrest spreads throughout the nation. “Iran is in large hassle,” Trump mentioned. “Plainly individuals are taking on sure cities that nobody thought attainable only a few weeks in the past. We’re carefully monitoring the state of affairs.”

Trump warned that america would reply strongly if the regime resorted to mass violence. “We’ll hit them actually laborious the place it hurts. And that does not imply we have now to place our ft on the bottom, however it means we have now to hit them actually, actually laborious the place it hurts.”

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Iranian worshipers elevate their palms in an indication of unity with Iran’s Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, throughout an anti-Israel rally to sentence Israel’s assaults on Iran, in central Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto through Getty Photographs)

Trump mentioned the administration hopes such motion is not going to be obligatory. “We do not need this to occur,” he mentioned. “There have been circumstances like this the place President Obama has fully withdrawn, however that is one thing fairly unbelievable taking place in Iran. It is wonderful to see.”

Trump blamed Iran’s management for the unrest, saying the regime had mistreated its individuals.

“They did a foul job. They handled the individuals very badly, and now they’re getting paid again,” he mentioned. “So let’s have a look at what occurs. We’ll control it. We’re watching it very carefully.’

A protester is confronted by Iranian safety forces throughout clashes amid nationwide unrest, in response to photographs launched by Iranian opposition group Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). (NCRI)

Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American journalist and editor of the Iran So Far Away Substack, mentioned the demonstrations have been anticipated to accentuate later Friday regardless of the communications blackout.

“Individuals will take to the streets,” Zand instructed Fox Information Digital. She described the unrest as unprecedented within the historical past of the Islamic Republic.

“Completely, that is the primary time in 47 years. February twelfth might be 47 years since we have now had this chance,” she mentioned. A senior US official instructed Fox Information that there had been no change in US navy posture within the Center East in response to the unrest, including that US Central Command was carefully monitoring developments, particularly round Friday prayers and the regime’s response.

13 days after the protests, the leaders of France, Britain and Germany issued their first joint assertion on the state of affairs in Iran.

“We’re deeply involved by studies of violence by Iranian safety forces and strongly condemn the killing of protesters,” the assertion mentioned. “The Iranian authorities have a duty to guard their very own individuals and should permit freedom of expression and peaceable meeting with out worry of reprisals. We urge the Iranian authorities to train restraint, chorus from violence and uphold the basic rights of Iranian residents.”

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Protesters collect as automobiles burn, amid creating anti-government unrest, in Tehran, Iran, on this screenshot obtained from a social media video launched on January 9, 2026. (Social media/through Reuters)

Iran’s opposition-aligned Nationwide Council of Resistance (NCRI) mentioned on Friday that safety forces in a number of cities, particularly Tehran and Karaj, killed a major variety of protesters in a single day. The group mentioned repression forces opened fireplace on civilians within the Fardis space of ​​Karaj, killing or wounding a minimum of 10 younger individuals in a single incident – claims that might not be independently verified.

NCRI chief Maryam Rajavi instructed Fox Information Digital: “The developments of current months have confirmed a elementary fact: though the regime governing Iran has been significantly weakened and suffered severe blows, it is not going to collapse beneath the burden of its personal failures. The overthrow is not going to come from exterior Iran, nor will it’s led to by the need of international capitals. As I’ve repeatedly emphasised, change can solely be achieved by the Iranian individuals themselves, via an organized and nationwide resistance on the bottom is current – one able to standing as much as a ruthless dictatorship.”

In response to Reuters, Iran grew to become successfully remoted after authorities minimize off web entry in an try and curb the demonstrations, severely proscribing the move of knowledge in a foreign country. Telephone calls to Iran failed and a minimum of seventeen flights between Dubai and Iran have been canceled, in response to Dubai Airport’s web site. Movies verified by Reuters confirmed buildings and automobiles on fireplace in a number of cities as unrest elevated.

Footage verified by Reuters from Tehran confirmed a whole bunch of protesters marching, with a minimum of one girl heard shouting: “Loss of life to Khamenei!” Different chants included slogans supporting the monarchy.

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In Zahedan, the place Iran’s Baluch minority dominates, rights group Hengaw reported {that a} protest march after Friday prayers was met with gunfire, wounding a number of individuals, in response to Reuters.

Iranian state tv broadcast photographs of clashes and fires, whereas the semi-official Tasnim information company reported that a number of cops have been killed in a single day, underscoring the more and more violent nature of the clashes.

In a televised speech on Friday, Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to not again down. Reuters reported that whereas the unrest has not but attracted as broad a cross-section of society as some earlier waves of protests, Iranian authorities seem extra susceptible as a result of poor financial state of affairs and the aftermath of final yr’s warfare with Israel and america.

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Iranian demonstrations intensify for the thirteenth day. (The Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran)

The protests started late final month when shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrated in opposition to rising inflation and the collapse of the rial, which misplaced about half its worth in opposition to the greenback final yr. Inflation reached the 40% mark in December. The unrest quickly unfold to universities and provincial cities, the place younger males clashed with safety forces.

State tv broadcast photographs at night time of burning buses, automobiles and bikes, in addition to fires in subway stations and banks. Within the Caspian Sea port metropolis of Rasht, a state tv journalist standing among the many flames mentioned: “This seems like a warfare zone – all of the outlets have been destroyed.”

Reuters famous that Iran’s opposition overseas stays fragmented, with contentious ranges of help within the nation for figures reminiscent of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s late Shah. Pahlavi urged Iranians to take to the streets in a social media put up, whereas President Donald Trump mentioned Thursday he wouldn’t meet with Pahlavi and was “undecided if it will be acceptable” to help him, he said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

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Burning particles lies subsequent to an overturned waste container in the midst of a road throughout unrest amid demonstrations in Hamedan, Iran, on January 1, 2026. The demonstrations broke out after shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar closed their companies to protest the sharp fall of Iran’s foreign money and deteriorating financial circumstances. Clashes have been reported in a number of provinces and Iranian media and rights teams mentioned a number of individuals had been killed within the violence. This marked the biggest protests to hit the Islamic Republic. in three years. (Mobina/Center East Photographs/AFP through Getty Photographs)

Regardless of the unrest, Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araqchi mentioned the possibilities of a international navy intervention have been “very low.” In response to Reuters, Oman’s international minister was anticipated to go to Tehran on Saturday.

The Islamic Republic has endured repeated waves of nationwide unrest in current many years, together with main protests in 1999, 2009, 2019 and 2022. Analysts say the approaching days will check whether or not the present rebellion can keep momentum beneath intensified repression — or undergo an identical destiny.

Reuters contributed to this text.