Iran protests: Reza Pahlavi banks on Trump's support as Khamenei calls protestors 'saboteurs' – Firstpost

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled prince of Iran, has urged US President Donald Trump to intervene in the uprising that has led to a clash between protestors and security officials.

A second wave of protests began earlier this week after Pahlavi encouraged outraged citizens to speak up against the Islamic Republic as Iran faces severe economic hardships. The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar with shopkeepers condemning the rial currency’s free fall.

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Amid all this, the regime in Iran is under immense international pressure, with US President Donald Trump threatening the government to come to the aid of protesters if security forces fire on them.

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Pahlavi mentioned, “Mr. President, this is an urgent and immediate call for your attention, support, and action. Last night you saw the millions of brave Iranians in the streets facing down live bullets. Today, they are facing not just bullets but a total communications blackout. No Internet. No landlines.”

“Ali Khamenei, fearing the end of his criminal regime at the hands of the people and with the guide of your powerful promise to support the protesters, has threatened the people on the streets with a brutal crack down. And he wants to use this blackout to murder these young heroes,” he added.

Mr. President, this is an urgent and immediate call for your attention, support, and action. Last night you saw the millions of brave Iranians in the streets facing down live bullets. Today, they are facing not just bullets but a total communications blackout. No Internet. No…

— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) January 9, 2026

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‘Vandals and saboteurs’

In his first comments on the escalating protests since January 3, Khamenei on Friday called the demonstrators “vandals” and “saboteurs”.

Khamenei, in a speech broadcast on state TV, mentioned 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.

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He predicted the “arrogant” US leader would be “overthrown” like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.

“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.”

With inputs from agencies

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