Son of ousted Iran shah urges protesters to ‘prepare to seize’ city centers

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, hailed the “magnificent” turnout on Friday and urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests this Saturday and Sunday with the aim of taking and then holding city centers.

“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 on social media.

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Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted by the 1979 revolution and died in 1980, added he was also “preparing to return to my homeland” at a time that he believed was “very near.”

Activists have expressed concern that the internet shutdown could mask repression by authorities, and the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has said at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi warned on Friday that security forces could be preparing to commit a “massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout.”

Authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed, and Khamenei in a defiant speech on Friday lashed out at “vandals” and vowed the Islamic republic would “not back down.”

He blamed the US for stoking the unrest in comments echoed by several other Iranian officials.

US President Donald Trump again refused on Friday to rule out new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June.

“Iran’s in big trouble. 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 his message to Iran’s leaders, Trump said: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”

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