Iran shuts off internet as protesters start fires in widening unrest

DUBAI – Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Jan 9 after the authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as videos show buildings and vehicles ablaze in anti-government protests raging in several cities across the country.

Rights groups have already documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.

In a televised address, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of emigre opposition groups and the US, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences.

The unrest has not mobilised as many layers of society as other bouts of political, economic or human rights protest in the past decade and a half, but dozens are reported dead, and the authorities look more vulnerable because of a dire economic situation and the aftermath of 2025’s war with Israel and the US.

While the initial protests were

focused on the economy

, with the rial currency losing half its value against the dollar in 2025 and inflation topping 40 per cent in December, they have morphed to include slogans aimed directly at the authorities.

The internet blackout has sharply reduced the amount of information getting out. Phone calls into Iran were not getting through.

At least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran were cancelled, Dubai Airport’s website showed.

Protests began in late December with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating over inflation and the rial, but soon spread to universities and provincial cities, as young men clashed with security forces.

Images published by state television overnight showed what it said were burning buses, cars and motorbikes as well as fires at underground railway stations and banks. 

It blamed the unrest on People’s Mujahedin Organisation, an opposition faction headquartered abroad that splintered off after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is also known as the MKO.

A state television journalist standing in front of the fires in Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea port of Rasht said: “This looks like a war zone – all the shops have been destroyed.”

Videos verified by Reuters as having been taken in the capital Tehran showed hundreds of people marching. In one of the videos, a woman could be heard shouting: “Death to Khamenei!”

Iranian rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where the Baluch minority predominates, had been met with gunfire that wounded several people.

The authorities have tried a dual approach – describing protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.

The Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in Iran above the elected president and Parliament, used tougher language in his speech on Jan 9.

“The Islamic republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people. It will not back down in the face of vandals,” he said, accusing those involved in unrest of seeking to please US President Donald Trump.

Judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted by state media as saying the punishment of rioters would be “decisive, maximal, and without legal leniency”.

Fragmented opposition

Iran’s fragmented external opposition factions called for more protests, and demonstrators have chanted slogans, including “Death to the dictator!”, and praising the monarchy that was overthrown in 1979.

Mr Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late ruling Shah, told Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets.”

The extent of support inside Iran for the monarchy or for the MKO, the most vocal of emigre opposition groups, is disputed.

Mr Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week that the US could come to the protesters’ aid, said on Jan 9 he would not meet Mr Pahlavi and was “not sure that it would be appropriate” to support him.

Germany condemned violence against protesters, saying the right to demonstrate and assemble must be guaranteed and the media in Iran must be able to report freely.

Despite the increased pressure, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Jan 9 that the chance of foreign military intervention in Iran was “very low”. He said the foreign minister of Oman, which has often interceded in negotiations between Iran and the West, would visit on Jan 10.
REUTERS