This grab taken from handout video footage released by Iran Press on January 9, 2026, shows pro-government demonstrators holding Iranian flags in Arak, northwestern Iran. AFP
"After another night of protests met with repression, metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours," it said in a post on X.
The US-based son of Iran's ousted shah urged Iranians on Saturday to stage more targeted protests to take and then hold city centres.
"Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres," Reza Pahlavi said in a video message on social media, urging more protests on Saturday and Sunday and adding he was also "preparing to return to my homeland" in a day he believed was "very near".
Iranians took to the streets in new protests on Friday to press the biggest movement against the Islamic Republic in more than three years, as authorities sustained an internet blackout as part of a crackdown that has left dozens dead.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said it looked like Iran's leaders were "in big trouble" and repeated an earlier threat of military strikes if peaceful protesters are killed.
"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.
Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, with growing calls for the end of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, which ousted the pro-Western shah.
In Tehran's northern Sa'adat Abad district, people banged pots and chanted slogans deriding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as cars honked in support, a video verified by AFP showed.
Other social media images showed similar protests elsewhere in Tehran, while videos published by Persian language television channels based outside Iran showed large numbers taking part in new protests in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north, and the holy city of Qom.
These protests followed giant demonstrations on Thursday that were the biggest in Iran since the 2022-2023 protest movement sparked by the custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the dress rules for women.
Starting in Tehran with shopkeepers in the Grand Bazaar angered by a sharp slide in the rial currency, the latest protests now involve others - mainly young men rather than the women and girls who played a key role at the Amini protests.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported at least 34 protesters and four security personnel killed, and 2,200 arrested during the unrest, which analysts say highlights a deeper disillusionment with the Shia status quo.
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