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Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, urged Iranians on Saturday to move beyond street demonstrations and begin organizing to seize and hold city centers, as protests entered their second week.
“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,” Pahlavi said in a video message posted on social media, calling for more demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday.
Pahlavi said he was also “preparing to return to my homeland” at a time he believed was “very near.”
Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by fresh demonstrations, according to videos verified by news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) and footage circulated on social media, despite a nationwide internet shutdown imposed by authorities.
Monitor Netblocks said early Saturday that “metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours.”
In Tehran’s Saadatabad district, residents banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans, including “death to Khamenei,” while cars honked in support, AFP verified.
Additional footage showed protests in other parts of the capital as well as in Mashhad in the east, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.
In the western city of Hamedan, a video showed a man waving a Shah-era Iranian flag bearing the lion and sun emblem amid fires and dancing crowds. Other unverified footage showed people dancing around a fire on a highway in northern Tehran’s Pounak district and chanting slogans in Mashhad’s Vakilabad district.
The protests, now in their second week, represent one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s ruling system since the 1979 revolution.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance, accusing the United States of fueling the unrest and vowing that authorities would not back down.
Activists have warned that the internet shutdown could be used to conceal repression. Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 51 people have been killed so far, while Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi warned that security forces could be preparing a “massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout.”
Authorities say several members of the security forces have also been killed.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran was “in big trouble” as protests spread, and refused to rule out further military action following Washington’s participation in Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June.
“It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said.
Asked about a message to Iran’s leadership, he added: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
The Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Saturday that the death toll from protests had risen to 65.
In a report published by the U.S.-based group, HRANA said demonstrations had taken place for 13 consecutive days in 512 locations across 180 cities in all 31 provinces.
According to the report, 50 protesters, 14 law enforcement and security personnel and one government-affiliated civilian were killed. At least 2,311 people were detained and dozens were injured, largely by pellet shots and plastic bullets.
Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures.
Iran has experienced repeated waves of protests since late December, driven largely by a sharp depreciation of the rial and worsening economic conditions.
The current demonstrations began on Dec. 28 near Tehran’s Grand Bazaar before spreading nationwide.
Iranian officials have accused the United States and Israel of instigating the unrest, warning that security forces and the judiciary “will show no tolerance whatsoever toward saboteurs.”
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