<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s authorities indicated on Saturday that they could intensify their crackdown on the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, as the death toll rose to 65 and the Revolutionary Guards blamed the unrest on terrorists, vowing to safeguard the governing system.<\/p>\n
Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic Republic, as activists on expressed fear that authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under the cover of an internet blackout.<\/p>\n
The two weeks of protests<\/a> have posed one of the biggest challenges to the Iranian authorities, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States.<\/p>\n Following the movement\u2019s largest protests yet on Thursday, new demonstrations took place late Friday, according to images verified by AFP<\/em> and other videos published on social media.<\/p>\n This was despite an internet shutdown<\/a> imposed by the authorities, with monitor Netblocks saying early Saturday that \u201cmetrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours\u201d.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The blackout has sparked fears among activists that authorities are now violently cracking down on the protests, with less chance that the proof will reach the outside world.<\/p>\n According to a report by the Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll in the protests rose to 65, Anadolu<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The report added that protests took place in 512 locations in 180 cities in all 31 provinces, resulting in the deaths of 50 protesters, 14 law enforcement and security officials, and one government-affiliated civilian.<\/p>\n Demonstrations also left dozens injured and 2,311 detained. The injuries were largely caused by pellet shots and plastic bullets, according to the report.<\/p>\n Authorities have not issued a statement about those killed or injured.<\/p>\n Amnesty International said it was analysing \u201cdistressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters\u201d since Thursday in an escalation \u201cthat has led to further deaths and injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi warned on Friday that security forces could be preparing to commit a \u201cmassacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout\u201d, and said she had already received reports of hundreds of people being treated for eye injuries at a single Tehran hospital.<\/p>\n Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has claimed that at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far, but warned the actual toll could be higher.<\/p>\n Iranian authorities are using the \u201cmost blatant tools of repression\u201d, prize-winning filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi said, pointing to the internet blackout.<\/p>\n \u201cExperience has shown that resorting to such measures is intended to conceal the violence inflicted during the suppression of protests,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n In Tehran\u2019s Saadatabad district, people banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans as cars honked in support, a video verified by AFP<\/em> showed.<\/p>\n Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.<\/p>\n In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a Shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun amid fires and people dancing.<\/p>\n In the Pounak district of northern Iran, people were shown dancing round a fire in the middle of a highway. It was not possible to immediately verify the videos.<\/p>\n Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran\u2019s ousted Shah, hailed the \u201cmagnificent\u201d turnout on Friday and urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cOur goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,\u201d Pahlavi said in a video message on social media.<\/p>\n Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted by the 1979 revolution and died in 1980, added he was also \u201cpreparing to return to my homeland\u201d at a time that he believed was \u201cvery near\u201d.<\/p>\n Authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed, and Khamenei, in a defiant speech on Friday, lashed out at \u201cvandals\u201d and accused the United States of instigating the protests.<\/p>\n State TV on Saturday broadcast images of funerals for several members of the security forces killed in the protests, including a large gathering in the southern city of Shiraz.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s army said in a statement that it would \u201cvigorously protect and safeguard national interests\u201d against an \u201cenemy seeking to disrupt order and peace\u201d.<\/p>\n National security council chief Ali Larijani said in comments broadcast late Friday that \u201cwe are in the middle of a war\u201d, with \u201cthese incidents being directed from outside\u201d.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump again refused on Friday to rule out new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel\u2019s 12-day war<\/a> against the Islamic Republic in June.<\/p>\n \u201cIran\u2019s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2018Seize city centres\u2019<\/h3>\n
<\/a>\u2018Big trouble\u2019<\/h3>\n