Iran's Supreme Leader hits out at Trump as protestors chant 'death to the dictator!' and light bonfires in street
Bonfires littered the streets of the capital as chants of “death to the dictator” and “death to the Islamic Republic” rang out
Iran's Supreme leader has blamed US president Donald Trump for the massive wave of unrest sweeping across the country.
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Protestors marched through Tehran on Friday morning after the country’s exiled crown prince called for justice as the economy crashes alongside constant internet blackouts.
Bonfires have littered the streets of the capital since Thursday as chants ran out: “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!”
The nationwide protests started in Tehran's Grand Bazaar against the failing economic policies in late December, which spread to universities and other cities.
Others praised Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father fled Iran just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, shouting: "This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!"
Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to state television, claiming protestors were “ruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy,” in reference to Donald Trump.
Read More: Iran shuts down internet amid mass protests against regime and calls for monarchy to return
He said protestors were “terrorist agents” of the U.S. and Israel, sparking violence in Tehran.
State TV said the protests saw “people’s private cars, motorcycles, public places such as the metro, fire trucks and buses set on fire.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei added there were casualties, without elaborating.
Violence around the demonstrations, intensifying since December 28, has killed at least 42 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
“What turned the tide of the protests was former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s calls for Iranians to take to the streets at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday,” Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Hill.
“Per social media posts, it became clear that Iranians had delivered and were taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic Republic.”
She added: “This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests. Unfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.”
Last week, Trump warned that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” America “will come to their rescue.”
Iran has “been told very strongly, even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now, that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” Trump said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt.