Iranian cleric attacks US, calls for death penalty for protesters, as protests appear to subside

Iran’s attack appears to have put an end to the protests for now, according to a civil rights group, as state media reported more arrests on Friday amid US threats to intervene if the killings continued.

After President Donald Trump once again threatened to attack Iran for supporting the protesters, fears of a US attack have receded since Wednesday.

US allies including Saudi Arabia and Qatar held tough talks with Washington this week to prevent a US strike, warning of consequences in the wider region that could ultimately affect the United States, a Gulf official said.

• Just asking you want to know: What questions do you have about what is happening in Iran? What do you want to know about the protests and the international response? Send us your questions before our January 17 show.

The White House said Thursday that Trump was closely monitoring the situation on the ground and that the mass killings in Iran had been halted. Trump has warned Tehran that there will be “serious consequences” if the killings related to its demolition continue.

But the cleric who leads Friday prayers in the Iranian capital is calling for the death penalty for protesters.

Pastor Ahmad Khatami’s sermon on Iran’s state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayer, including: “The armed hypocrites must be killed!”

The protests began on December 28 over rising inflation in Iran, whose economy has been crippled by sanctions, before moving into one of the biggest challenges yet to the clerical establishment that has run Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian authorities have blamed foreign enemies for instigating it. Khatami, who was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a member of the country’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, conducted a survey on Friday to Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pahlavi will face protests

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late shah who has not lived in Iran since the late 1970s, greeted protesters outside. Pahlavi is scheduled to address the protests in Washington, DC, on Friday morning.

Pahlavi’s support inside Iran to help lead the transition to clerical leadership has been questioned, including by Trump.

“I don’t know if his country will accept his leadership or not, and if they do, that would be fine with me,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters this week.

The death toll reported by US-based rights group HRANA has risen slightly since Wednesday, currently standing at 2,677 people, including 2,478 protesters and 163 people identified as government collaborators. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that a Canadian citizen was among those killed.

Reuters could not independently verify HRANA’s death toll. The number of injured dwarfs the death toll in these past incidents which have been suppressed by the government.

Khatami gave the first estimates of damage from the protests, saying that 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places were damaged. Another 80 homes of Friday worshippers, as well as hundreds of vehicles that arrived first, were also damaged, he said.

Rare disturbances have been reported

With the flow of information from Iran blocked by the internet shutdown, several Tehran residents said the capital had been quiet since Sunday. They said the drones were flying over the city, where they saw no signs of protests on Thursday or Friday.

The Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said there had been no protest rallies since Sunday, saying “the security environment remains very restrictive.”

“Our independent sources confirm that there are large numbers of soldiers and security forces in cities and towns where protests have taken place in the past, as well as in many areas where there have been no major protests,” Norway-based Hengaw told Reuters.

However, there were signs of unrest in other areas.

Hengaw reported that a female nurse was killed by government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Tehran. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

The state-affiliated Tasnim newspaper reported that rioters set fire to a local education office in Falavarjan County, central Isfahan Province, on Thursday.

Tasnim reported the arrest of five people suspected of vandalizing a gas station and a base of the Basij – a security force that often quells unrest – in the southeastern city of Kerman.

Russia confirms Iranian cooperation

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Iran in separate calls on Friday with Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and said Moscow is willing to mediate in the region, the Kremlin said.

Russia has called for a de-escalation of tensions in Iran, the Kremlin said, while Putin and Pezeshkian reaffirmed their commitment to a 20-year partnership agreement signed last year, which includes joint economic projects. Russia has pursued close ties with Iran since its war in Ukraine began.

Any threat to the survival of Iran’s leadership will be of great concern to Moscow, 13 months after it lost another key Middle Eastern ally, with the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Earlier this month, another Russian ally, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, was kidnapped by the US and brought to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.

While the US has said that military options for intervention in Iran remain possible, there are currently no US aircraft carriers – which are considered an essential asset for any significant military operation – in the Middle East. The USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group were deployed in the fall as part of the administration’s military operations focused on Venezuela.