PARIS, France, Jan 9, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali 
Khamenei on Friday insisted that the Islamic republic would "not back down" 
in the face of protests after the biggest rallies yet in an almost two week 
movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living.

Chanting slogans including "death to the dictator" and setting fire to 
official buildings, crowds of people opposed to the clerical establishment 
marched through major cities late Thursday.

Internet monitor Netblocks said authorities had imposed a total connectivity 
blackout late Thursday and added early Friday that the country has "now been 
offline for 12 hours... in an attempt to suppress sweeping protests".

The demonstrations represent one of the biggest challenges yet to the Islamic 
republic in its over four-and-a half decades of existence, with protesters 
openly calling for an end to its theocratic rule.

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 US President 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 "arrogant" 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.

Trump said late Thursday that "enthusiasm to overturn that regime is 
incredible" and warned that if the Iranian authorities responded by killing 
protesters, "we're going to hit them very hard. We're ready to do it."

- 'Even larger' -

AFP has verified videos showing 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.

The son of the shah of Iran ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, US-based 
Reza Pahlavi, who had called for major protests Thursday, urged a new show of 
force in the streets on Friday.

Pahlavi, in a new video message early Friday, said Thursday's rallies showed 
how "a massive crowd forces the repressive forces to retreat".

He called for bigger protests Friday "to make the crowd even larger so that 
the regime's repressive power becomes even weaker"