There was an uneasy calm in Iran after weeks of bloody protests that left more than 2,000 people dead and over 18,000 in detention for demonstrating against the repressive regime, an ailing economy and hyperinflation.
A stringent crackdown on dissidents by the Iranian regime had escalated into the announcement of death penalty of protesters, a move opposed vehemently by US President Donald Trump, who threatened military action against Tehran if protesters were harmed.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll at 3,090.
While Trump has since struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran’s leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, Iranian authorities seem to be in no mood of relenting, with a senior hardline cleric renewing the call for the death penalty for detained demonstrators.
“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that “I greatly respect the fact that they canceled”. He did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the state of any planned executions.
But, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters on Friday as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!” he said on Iranian state radio.
He also said Netanyahu and Trump should await “hard revenge from the system.” “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” the cleric said.
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His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions. One diplomat told foreign press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a US military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilise an already volatile region.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had been quietly watching on the sidelines so far, also spoke with both Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, and Israel’s Netanyahu on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Khatami has also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders - an important position within Iran’s theocracy – were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.
He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.
But, with no signs of protests for days in Tehran, shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continues.
Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.
“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveller who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed”.
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