Internet access and telephone lines in Iran were cut out on Thursday night after demonstrators in Tehran and elsewhere joined a protest called by the country's exiled crown prince. CloudFlare, an internet firm, and the advocacy group NetBlocks reported the internet outage, both attributing it to Iranian government interference.
Why Iran plunged into chaos
Protests sparked by Iran's ailing economy have swept the country and turned into a significant challenge for its theocracy. People in Iran's capital shouted from their homes and rallied in the street Thursday night, witnesses said, a new escalation in the protests that have spread nationwide across the Islamic Republic. Intern
et access and telephone lines in Iran cut out immediately after the protests began.
Who is Iran’s exiled crown prince?
The protest represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fuelling the protests that began over Iran's ailing economy.
Why is it a big threat to Khamenei's ruling in Iran?
Thursday saw a continuation of the demonstrations that popped up in cities and rural towns across Iran on Wednesday. More markets and bazaars shut down in support of the protesters. So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 39 people while more than 2,260 others have been detained, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The growth of the protests increases the pressure on Iran's civilian government and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So far, authorities haven't shut down the internet or fully flooded the streets with security forces like they did to put down the 2022 Mahsa Amini demonstrations. But any intensification may seem them act. US President Donald Trump warned intervention, thus threatning Khamenei's government. However, the exit of the Iranian supreme leader is still a big matter.
Biggest protests since Mahsa Amini's death
Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after a 12-day war with Israel in June, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to USD 1. Protests began soon after, with demonstrators chanting against Iran's theocracy.
Prior to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the rial was broadly stable, trading at around 70 to USD 1. At the time of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, USD 1 traded for 32,000 rials. Shops in markets across the country have shut down as part of the protests.
(With inputs from agency)