Latest news with #IranProtests
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rally against Israeli attacks
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rally against Israeli attacks NewsFeed Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rally against Israeli attacks Hundreds of thousands of Iranians were seen protesting in cities across Iran on Friday over continued Israeli attacks.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Iranians BURN US & Israel flags and chant ‘we want to DIE for Ayatollah' as thousands join ‘death to the West' protests
SEETHING Iranians burned US and Israeli flags and swore their allegiance to the regime in mass protests across the country. Thousands flooded the capital's streets after weekly prayers, chanting for the death of the west and pledging their lives to the Supreme Leader. 9 9 9 Israel has urged the people of Iran to rise up against the regime, but there are still pockets of support for the Islamic government. But alongside their loyalty to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the crowds aimed vitriolic hate at Israel and the West. Photos show Israeli and US flag deliberately set on fire and trampled on. A sea of Iranian and Hezbollah flags and photos of Khamenei were paraded through the roads. Footage also shows demonstrators brandishing pictures of commanders killed over the past week by Israel's missiles. One banner read: "I will sacrifice my life for my leader." Iranian state TV said: "This is the Friday of the Iranian nation's solidarity and resistance across the country." The broadcaster said that protests also took place in other cities - particularly Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south. And there are reports of smaller scale gatherings in towns around the country. While these crowds back the regime, there are plenty in Iran who want to see it toppled and the people finally freed from its tyranny. Thousands have drained from Tehran and even left the country. Friday's protests were by far the largest since Israel and Iran began trading missiles. People took to the streets despite the ongoing threat of Israeli bombs. In Isfahan, home to one of the nuclear facilities Israel has hit, thousands joined in the funeral of an Iranian killed in an Israeli attack. Several men were seen carrying a coffin draped with Iranian flags and with a photo of a uniformed soldier. Behind them, men, women and children followed, chanting: 'Death to Israel, death to America." 9 9 9 Protester Abu Hussein, a 54-year-old taxi driver, told Arab News: 'It is an unjust war… Israel has no right. 'Israel is not in it for the (Iranian) nuclear (program). "What Israel and the Americans want is to dominate the Middle East." The protests came on a day that efforts to find a diplomatic solution got gathered momentum. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Geneva to meet European foreign minsters - including those from the UK, Germany and France. Earlier in the day, he attended a special meeting of the UN's Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, the UN's Security Council met in New York upon Iran's request. 9 9 9
Reuters
a day ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Iran's divided opposition senses its moment but activists remain wary of protests
DUBAI, June 19 - Iran's fragmented opposition groups think their moment may be close at hand, but activists involved in previous bouts of protest say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack. Exiled opponents of the Islamic Republic, themselves deeply divided, are urging street protests. In the borderlands, Kurdish and Baluchi separatist groups look poised to rise up, with Israeli strikes pummelling Iran's security apparatus. While the Islamic Republic looks weaker than at nearly any point since soon after the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46-year rule would likely require some form of popular uprising. Whether such an uprising is likely - or imminent - is a matter of debate. The late shah's son, U.S.-based Raze Pahlavi, said in media interviews this week he wants to lead a political transition, proclaiming it the best chance to topple the Islamic Republic in four decades and saying "this is our moment in history". Triggering regime change is certainly one war goal for Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Iranians to say "we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom". Within a ruling system long adept at quashing public displays of dissent, there are signs it is readying for protests. Mohammad Amin, a member of the Basij militia that is often deployed against protesters, said his unit in Qom had been put on alert to root out Israeli spies and protect the Islamic Republic. However, while the strikes have targeted a security hierarchy that crushed previous bouts of protest, they have also caused great fear and disruption for ordinary people - and anger at both Iranian authorities and Israel, the activists said. "How are people supposed to pour into the streets? In such horrifying circumstances, people are solely focused on saving themselves, their families, their compatriots, and even their pets," said Atena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran. Daemi's concerns were also voiced by Iran's most prominent activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, in a social media post. Responding to an Israeli demand for people to evacuate parts of Tehran, she posted: "Do not destroy my city." Two other activists Reuters spoke to in Iran, who were among the hundreds of thousands involved in mass protests two years ago after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, said they also had no plans to demonstrate yet. "After the strikes end we will raise our voices because this regime is responsible for the war," said one, a university student in Shiraz, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. Another, who had lost her university place and been jailed for five months after the 2022 protests and who also requested anonymity, said she believed in regime change in Iran but that it was not time to take to the streets. She and her friends were not planning to stage or join rallies, she said, and dismissed calls from abroad for protests. "Israel and those so-called opposition leaders abroad only think about their own benefits," she said. Apart from Pahlavi's monarchists, the main opposition faction outside Iran is the People's Mujahideen Organisation, also known as the MEK or MKO. A revolutionary faction in the 1970s, it lost a power struggle after the shah was toppled. Many Iranians have not forgiven it for then siding with Iraq during the stalemated war of 1980-88 and rights groups have accused it of abuses at its camps and of cult-like behaviour, both of which it denies. The Mujahideen are the main force behind the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which like Pahlavi has cultivated close ties with some Western politicians. At a Paris forum this week, the council's leader Maryam Rajavi reiterated her opposition to any return of the monarchy, saying "neither the shah nor the mullahs". How far opposition groups outside Iran enjoy any support inside the country is uncertain. While there is fond nostalgia among some Iranians for the period before the revolution, it is an era that most are too young to remember. Within Iran, the successive rounds of national protests have also focused around differing issues. In 2009, demonstrators flooded the streets over what they saw as a stolen presidential election. In 2017, protests focused on falling living standards. And in 2022 women's rights were the trigger. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the election candidate protesters said had been cheated in 2009, has been under house arrest for years and is now 83. His policy was to reform the Islamic Republic rather than replace it - the goal of many protesters in later movements. For opponents of the Islamic Republic inside Iran, those unanswered questions of whether or when to stage protests, what agenda to pursue, or which leader to follow are only likely to grow more pressing as Israel's airstrikes continue.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Iran arrests dissident rapper formerly on death row: supporters
PARIS: Iranian authorities have arrested Toomaj Salehi, a prominent rapper who is sharply critical of the Islamic republic's leadership, the artist's supporters said on his social media accounts on Thursday. The reported arrest of Salehi, who is known to fans as Toomaj and had previously been sentenced to death in the wake of nationwide protests, comes amid the nearly week-old war triggered by Israeli attacks on Iran and as rights groups have warned of a crackdown on dissent by Tehran. Salehi, 34, has bitterly criticized Israel's strikes on his country as well as the failure of Iranian authorities to protect citizens in the face of the bombardment which began on Friday. According to a statement published by supporters of Salehi on his official Instagram and X accounts, he had been arrested in the Gulf island of Kish, on Iran's southern coast. 'We have no information about the detaining agency, his place of detention, or his health. The government is directly responsible for anything that happens to his health and life,' it said. 'Toomaj must be released immediately.' Rights groups have sounded the alarm on a crackdown in Iran against the background of the Israeli attacks which analysts believe could be aimed at ousting the country's clerical leadership. Amnesty International said on Wednesday that 'Iranian authorities have responded to Israel's latest military attacks by imposing Internet restrictions, arresting journalists and dissidents within the country.' Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said on Thursday that at least 223 people have been arrested nationwide on charges related to collaboration with Israel. The group said its tally is based on official media reports, but the real figures are likely higher. Internet monitor Netblocks said that Iran was under its most severe 'blackout incident' since a 2019 wave of protests. Salehi was previously arrested in October 2022 after publicly backing demonstrations that erupted a month earlier, triggered by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. He was initially sentenced to death in a verdict that caused international uproar but it was later reduced to prison time and he was released in December 2024. Activists have accused Iran of torturing him during his 2022 arrest, after state media published a video purporting to show the rapper blindfolded, with bruising on his face, apologizing for his support of the protests.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Hackers 'breach Iranian TV' as country's Supreme Leader threatens the US with an 'all-out' war
Hackers breached Iranian TV to urge people to take to the streets in protest of the country's government, according to reports. News site ' Iran International,' based in London, said TV channels in the region were targeted by the 'Zionist enemy' and images of demonstrations were broadcast. Additionally, messages calling on the Iranian people to oppose the country's regime were reportedly displayed on screen. The Iranian broadcasting corporation announced the disruptions in a statement saying: 'If unrelated images are seen, the reason is the disruption of satellite signals on the network by the Zionist enemy.' It comes as the Israel-Iran conflict rages on for a sixth day with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening the US with an all out-out war. Earlier, Donald Trump addressed the media for the first time since he called a Situation Room crisis meeting to decide whether the U.S. will join the strikes on Iran. He said that Iran 'wants to negotiate,' and he has not decided whether to authorize the U.S. military to target Iran's nuclear sites. 'I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' he teased on the White House front lawn. Mr Trump added that it is not 'too late' for Iran to give up its nuclear programme as he continues to weigh direct US involvement in Israel's military operations aimed at crushing Tehran's options. 'Nothing's too late,' Mr Trump said. 'I can tell you this. Iran's got a lot of trouble.' 'Nothing is finished until it is finished,' Mr Trump added. But 'the next week is going to be very big - maybe less than a week'. Mr Trump also offered a terse response to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's refusal to heed to his call for Iran to submit to an unconditional surrender. 'I say good luck,' Mr Trump said. Mr Khamenei earlier warned that any United States strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them' and that his country would not bow to Mr Trump's call for surrender. Mr Trump said on Tuesday the US knows where Iran's Mr Khamenei is hiding as the the Israel-Iran conflict escalates but does not want him killed - 'for now'. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,' Mr Trump said. In a video address to Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Mr Trump's support, calling him 'a great friend of Israel' and praising US help defending Israel's skies. 'We speak constantly, including last night,' Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday. 'We had a very warm conversation.' Mr Trump's increasingly muscular comments toward the Iranian government come after he urged Tehran's 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his participation in an international summit earlier this week to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team. Mr Trump said that the Iranian officials continue to reach out to the White House as they are 'getting the hell beaten out of them' by Israel. But he added there is a 'big difference between now and a week ago' in Tehran's negotiating position. 'They've suggested that they come to the White House - that's, you know, courageous,' Mr Trump said. Iran's mission to the United Nations refuted Mr Trump's claim in a statement on social media. In a series of social media posts, Mr Trump said 'we' have aerial supremacy and 'we' know where the Supreme Leader is, remarks that suggested Israel and the US were acting in unison 'No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader.' The US president said earlier this week Russian president Vladimir Putin offered to serve a mediator with. But Mr Trump said he told Mr Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine. 'I said, 'Do me a favour, mediate your own',' Mr Trump said he told Mr Putin. 'I said, 'Vladimir, let's mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later'.' The Russia-Iran relationship has deepened since Mr Putin launched a war on Ukraine in February 2022, with Tehran providing Moscow with drones, ballistic missiles, and other support, according to US intelligence findings.
