Nationwide Protests by Iranians and Internet Shutdown; Khamenei Says He Will Not Back Down

After hundreds of videos were recorded of millions of people protesting in various cities across Iran, the Islamic Republic government has cut off the internet to prevent information dissemination. At the same time, Ali Khamenei, in a meeting with his supporters, stated that he 'will not back down in the face of the destroyers.' On Friday, January 19, 1404, during a government meeting with his supporters, Khamenei implicitly acknowledged the widespread protests, saying: 'Last night in Tehran, a bunch of destroyers came and destroyed a building belonging to themselves.' He also claimed that the protesters did this 'to please the President of the United States.' While Khamenei referred to the protesters as 'a bunch of destroyers,' on Thursday night, large crowds in various cities across Iran called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, shared one of the videos of the million protesters in Mashhad, stating: 'The second largest city in Iran is under the control of the protesters.' On Thursday night, in response to the question of whether he believes the Islamic Republic is on the verge of collapse, Trump said: 'Well, it may be. I mean, what they have done in the past is that they started shooting heavily at the people; and suddenly, unarmed people stand up and are shot at with machine guns. Or they are taken to prison and then executed and killed. Therefore, their (Islamic Republic's) response is very violent.' Mr. Trump added: 'I said if they do this, we will hit them very hard. Very hard. We are ready to do that. If they do this, we will hit them (the Islamic Republic).' This is Khamenei's second stance against the protesters since the new wave of protests began. A week after the protests started, Ali Khamenei called for the suppression of the protesters, but the protests spread to other cities and the number of protesters increased.