How Iran's exiled Crown Prince 'turned tide' of protests

Iran's exiled Crown Prince has placed himself at the centre of the mass protests that have washed over the country in recent days. 

Demonstrations that have swelled in size and number since late December over the plummeting of the Iranian rial have included cries in support of Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally-ill father fled Iran just before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

In years gone by, this was something that could bring a death sentence. But it now underlines the anger fuelling the protests that began over Iran's ailing economy.

So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 50 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. 

In his latest call to action, Pahlavi said in a video posted to X: 'I know that despite the internet and communication cuts, you will not abandon the streets. Be assured that victory belongs to you!'  

It was these calls that appeared have ignited the fury that has resided in Iranians across the country for so long, said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  

'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,' she said. 

'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.'

'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.'

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When the clock struck 8pm on Thursday, neighbourhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said. 

The chants included 'Death to the dictator!' and 'Death to the Islamic Republic!' Others praised the shah, shouting: 'This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!'

Thousands could be seen on the streets before all communication to Iran cut out.

'Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication,' Pahlavi said. 'It has shut down the internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.'

He went on to call for European leaders to join Trump in promising to 'hold the regime to account.'

'I call on them to use all technical, financial, and diplomatic resources available to restore communication to the Iranian people so that their voice and their will can be heard and seen,' he added. 'Do not let the voices of my courageous compatriots be silenced.'

Iranian authorities appear to be hugely threatened by the demonstrations. Tehran prosecutors have said that anyone involved in 'sabotage', burning public property and armed clashed with security forces will face a death sentence.  

State-run media has repeatedly referred to demonstrators as 'terrorists,' setting the stage for a violent crackdown like those that followed other nationwide protests in recent years.

Protesters are 'ruining their own streets ... in order to please the president of the United States,' Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. 'Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.'

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Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters 'will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.'

Iran's harsh response to the demonstrations has drawn the attention of US president Donald Trump, who warned last week that if Tehran 'violently kills peaceful protesters,' America 'will come to their rescue.'

Trump reiterated his pledge on Thursday, saying that 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'. 

But Khamenei struck a defiant tone in his first comments on the protests that have been escalating since January 3, calling the demonstrators 'vandals' and 'saboteurs', in a speech broadcast on state TV.

Khamenei said 'arrogant' Donald Trump's hands 'are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians', in apparent reference to Israel's June war against the Islamic republic which the US supported and joined with strikes of its own.

He predicted the US leader would be 'overthrown' like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.

'Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals came and destroyed a building that belongs to them to please the US president,' he said in an address to supporters, as men and women in the audience chanted the mantra of "death to America".

'Everyone knows the Islamic republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people, it will not back down in the face of saboteurs,' he added.  

Verified videos showed crowds of people, as well as vehicles honking in support, filling a part of the vast Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard late on Thursday.

The crowd could be heard chanting 'death to the dictator' in reference to Khamenei, 86, who has ruled the Islamic republic since 1989.

Other videos showed significant protests in other cities, including Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Mashhad in the east, as well as the Kurdish-populated west of the country, including the regional hub Kermanshah.

Several videos showed protesters setting fire to the entrance to the regional branch of state television in the central city of Isfahan. It was not immediately possible to verify the images.

Flames were also seen in the governor's building in Shazand, the capital of Markazi province in central Iran, after protesters gathered outside, other videos showed.

The protests late Thursday were the biggest in Iran since 2022-2023 rallies nationwide sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress code.

Rights groups have accused authorities of firing on protesters in the current demonstrations, killing dozens. However, the latest videos from Tehran did not show intervention by security forces.