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UPDATE 1945 GMT: With footage of demonstrations tonight in Iran’s third city Shiraz, the only large city without any protest today is Tabriz.

In Shiraz, protesters chant, “The mullah must get lost”:

Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, has acknowledged the protests in “several “parts of the country”. It has also noted “police disruption” of the rally in Kermanshah.

The acknowledgement is a sharp contrast to Fars’ refusal to note protests after the disputed 2009 Presidential election.

Fars does try to limit the scale of the protests, saying that “many people who were opposed to the magnitude of the grievances preferred to avoid the slogans of the leaders of these gatherings”.

In Rasht, parents gather with their children in the rally:


UPDATE 1715 GMT: Saturday’s meeting of the heads of the three branches of government — President Hassan Rouhani, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and judiciary head Sadeq Amoli Larijani — has been postponed because of the growing protests throughout Iran.


UPDATE 1545 GMT: State outlet Press TV has deleted its post from this morning which carefully referred to yesterday’s protest in Mashhad as an “illegal gathering”.

Even though the article did not refer to the size and slogans of the demonstration, merely citing official statements of 52 arrests, the link now goes to Press TV’s homepage with no indication of any report.

Other English-language sites — including IRNA, Mehr, and Tasnim — are also ignoring the rallies. The Iran Project has a copy of Press TV’s now-disappeared post.

Persian-language sites are portraying the protests as being small gatherings of “rioters”. IRNA quotes Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, “If the security and law enforcement agencies leave the rioters to themselves, enemies will publish films and pictures in their media and say that the Islamic Republic system has lost its revolutionary base in Mashhad.”

IRNA is also featuring the call of 1st Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri — who earlier warned against any support of the rallies — for “the political movements of the country — whether reformists, fundamentalists, or moderates — and all those who are concerned about Iran…[to] solve the problems of the country together”.

The Deputy Governor General of Tehran Province, Mohsen Hamadani, said about 50 people had rallied in a Tehran square. He claimed most left after being asked by police, but a few who refused were “temporarily detained”.

The demonstration in Qazvin in northern Iran — “Death to the dictator”:

Sabzevar in northern Iran — “An Iran Without a King is an Iran in Chaos!”:


UPDATE 1515 GMT: Protests are spreading across Iran, now reaching the religious center of Qom:

Slogans included “Death to Hezbollah!” and “[Supreme] Leader Should be Ashamed and Leave the Country Alone”. Claims are circulating that the demonstrators shouted “Reza Shah” in support of the Pahlavi monarchy that ruled Iran until the 1979 Islamic Revolution:

Ahvaz in southern Iran:

Sari in northern Iran — “Leave Syria Alone! Take Care of Us!”:

Isfahan — “Not Gaza, Not Lebanon, I Give My Life for Iran”:

Rasht — “Death to the Dictator”:

Hamedan — “Death to the Dictator”:


UPDATE 1230 GMT: First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has warned those whom he claims are behind the Mashhad protests that political action against the government in the streets will “backfire”.

The Deputy Governor General of Tehran Province, Mohsen Hamedani, has said no permit will be issued for a rally in Iran’s capital. He warned, “Such gatherings will be firmly dealt with by police”, claiming that the protests are serving the “terrorist” MKO and “monarchists”.

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Demonstrations have spread to Kermanshah in western Iran, with a largely-Kurdish population. Slogans are political as well as critical of the economic situation, and have specifically targeted the Supreme Leader.

Conservative outlets are trying to play down the protests by saying that they are only requests about the state of personal savings. The claim is belied by multiple videos showing the extent of the demonstrations.

Protesters shout, “The People are Begging and Agha [the Supreme Leader] is playing God”:

Scuffles with security forces:

In Zahedan in southeast Iran — “Death to Expensive-Ness”:


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thousands of people demonstrated in Iranian cities on Thursday, protesting inflation, unemployment, and corruption and denouncing President Rouhani and — implicitly — the Supreme Leader.

The largest gathering was in Iran’s second city Mashhad, with a large crowd gathering in a central square and then moving towards the shrine of Imam Reza, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. Rallies were also held in nearby Neyshabour and Kashmar in northeastern Iran, in Yazd and Birjand in the center, and in Shahrud and Noushahr on the Caspian Sea in the north.

See Iran Developing: Large Protests in Mashhad and Other Cities Over Inflation

Chants included “death to the dictator”, an apparent reference to the Supreme Leader, “Death to Rouhani”, and “Don’t be afraid, we are together”.

The protesters also called on Iran’s leaders to focus on domestic issues and pull back from interventions across the region. In a refrain of a line from rallies after the disputed 2009 Presidential election, marchers shouted, “Not Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life for Iran”. They also chanted, “Leave Syria, think about us”.

In Mashhad, security forces used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds. An official in the Mashhad prosecutor’s office said 52 people were detained; some opposition sources said the number was much higher.

Iran’s English-language State outlets are carefully avoiding any reference to the size of the protests or their messages. Press TV refers only to an “illegal gathering” in Mashhad with the 52 arrests. The outlet does not carry a photo of the protests, instead illustrating its story with the scales of justice.

Its report quotes an Iranian official, “Peaceful protests are the right of every citizen, but the law will never allow opportunists to materialize their vested interests at the cost of social security.”

The rallies began earlier this week in Isfahan after officials warned of worsening unemployment, with more than 27,000 people fired from their jobs because firms went bankrupt over the past nine months.

Iran has declared growth of more than 6% in GDP this year, and the International Monetary Fund has put the figure at 3.5%. However, much of the growth has rested on a rise in oil exports since an easing of sanctions with implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal.

The Rouhani Government has brought inflation down to below 10%, from more than 40% when it took office in 2013. But unemployment, especially among youth, continues to rise. Iran has struggled to establish major foreign investment and trade deals, and the Government’s proposed budget has cut support of infrastructure by more than 16%.

Press TV’s circumscribed coverage does mention that the Rouhani Government “still faces many economic challenges” and that the Supreme Leader has said economic issues are Iran’s top priority.