Free Republic

(AFP) — UNITED NATIONS — The US Ambassador to the United Nations called on the international community to speak out on the unfolding protests in Iran, saying the US would seek emergency UN talks on the situation. “The people of Iran are crying out for freedom,” Nikki Haley said at a news conference. “All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause.” She said the United States would be seeking emergency sessions of the UN Security Council and the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission in the coming days. Haley rejected as “complete nonsense” charges by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...

Every decade the Islamist regime has been in power, an uprising has cost it an element of its legitimacy. A protester at the University of Tehran, Dec. 30. The slogans must have unsettled the mullahs: “Death to Khamenei!” “Death to Rouhani!” “We will die to get our Iran back!” Imperialism has not revived the regime’s legitimacy, as the protesting Persians pointedly reject expending their meager resources on Arab wars: “Death to Hezbollah!” “No to Gaza, not Lebanon! Our life only for Iran!” However the events on the streets unfold, their most immediate casualty will be the presidency of Hassan Rouhani...

Full title: Leaked meeting notes show how panicked Iranian regime considered stopping deadly protests: 'God help us'EXCLUSIVE – A leaked report provided to Fox News shows how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with political leaders and heads of the country's security forces to discuss how to tamp down on the deadly nationwide protests. The report covered several meetings up to December 31 and was provided to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) from what it said were high level sources from within the regime. The meeting notes, which have been translated into English from Farsi, said...

Responding to goading tweets, Hassan Rouhani says US president 'has forgotten that he had called Iranian people 'terrorists' a few months ago' Closing 2017 with a series of tweets summarizing his administration’s achievements over the past year, US President Donald Trump bolstered his voiced support for protesters in Iran, saying that the government there is trying to throttle the demonstrations by cutting off communications. In a tweet Sunday, Trump said: “Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot...

Starting Thursday, anti-government rallies beginning in Mashhad, northeast Iran, are mushrooming in several major cities of Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz, and dozens of towns across the country. These rallies are in sharp contrast to the 2009 episode where former US president Barack Obama refused to support the massive demands for sweeping change. At the time, the controversial reelection of former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked nationwide rallies with protesters demanding their votes back. Today, however, beginning with economic demands as people are reaching the very limits of their tolerance, demonstrators are seeking economic necessities and escalating their expectations to...

Tens of thousands of Iranians are demonstrating in different cities all over Iran against dismal living conditions, against lack of hope for any real improvement, be it economical, social or political. This is a clear indication that people cannot be endlessly misled and intimidated. Iranian youth and women, who are suffering most from absence of perspective for dignifed life and work, are among the first to challenge the clerical dictatorship. The current demonstrations show also a different quality in putting the blame directly on the highest leaders, on the president Rouhani and supreme religius leader Khamenei. It is remarkable that...

In 2009, Iran was swept by demonstrations, just as it is now. But at that time, the protesters were shouting “Allahu akbar,” and there was no indication that they wanted anything but reform of the Islamic regime, not the end of the regime itself. This time, however, the protesters have been chanting: “We don’t want an Islamic Republic!” “Clerics shame on you, let go of our country!” Some have even chanted: “Reza Shah, bless your soul!” What has changed? Donald Trump. Reza Shah was the Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and the father of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the...

Small cities from north to south brace for increased turnout Monday after joining the mass demonstrations a day earlier TEHRAN, Iran — The largest protests to strike Iran in nearly a decade continued unabated Sunday night with demonstrators across the country poised for a fifth day of unrest, despite stark government warnings of a crackdown to end the stand-off. In addition to major metropolises that have seen mass protests since Thursday, smaller cities from north to south held protests Sunday and were expecting increased turnouts on Monday, according to regional reports.

Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations! 8:03 AM - 31 Dec 2017

A selection of verified videos from Iran on Saturday, the third day of protests of thousands of people across the country:

Estimates say that up to one million Iranians have been protesting across the country since Thursday in what one Iranian opposition group says has turned into a protest for regime change. Those protesters are being buoyed by messages from the Trump administration, says the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition of democratic Iranian groups and personalities. In two tweets earlier Saturday, President Donald Trump offered up a message of hope to the protesters: “The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, that...

For all the squabbling that social media platforms are notorious for, their relevance to the media landscape plays an important role in times of protest. This was evident with Black Lives Matter, among other movements. It’s been evident for the past three days in Iran, where thousands have taken to streets and public squares calling for an end to the hardline conservative regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The question that needs to be asked right now is why traditional mainstream media outlets – grandstanding over their importance in this new, bold era of fact-checking and truth-telling – have largely ignored...

In the capital they showed their anger through normally taboo slogans, such as “death to the dictator”, chanted by students gathered near Tehran university – a barely veiled attack on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Clashes with security forces followed. It was not clear how many were detained in Tehran on Saturday, but scores of protesters are believed to have been arrested in western Kermanshah and eastern Mashhad, Iran’s conservative second city, where the latest unrest began.

Footage from opposition websites shows thousands participating in demonstrations, with some tearing down posters of supreme leader and calling for his death hree Iranian protesters were shot dead by the Revolutionary Guards at a Saturday night demonstration in central Iran, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network reported, citing local reports. There was no immediate confirmation of the incident, which reportedly took place in Doroud, in the Loerstan province. Footage from Iranian opposition websites showed thousands participating in the nationwide anti-regime demonstrations, with some calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian social media accounts posted videos of demonstrators tearing...

IRAN may be the brink of a “revolution” amid violent clashes between riot police and protestors, an opposition group in exile has claimed. Tear gas, water cannons and riot cops armed with clubs have been deployed today to streets of the Iranian capital as thousands of protests took to the streets. Protests over unemployment and food prices quickly spiralled into widespread calls for the collapse of the ruling Islamic regime. Videos and pictures erupted on social media from the tightly controlled state showing protests and violence amid chants of “death to the dictator”. And now the People’s Mojahedin Organization of...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump's support for protests in the country was "deceitful and opportunist". "The Iranian people see no value in the opportunistic remarks by American officials and Mr Trump," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on its website. He said Iranians remembered Trump's actions in barring them from entry to the United States and "the arrest of many Iranians in that country on baseless pretexts".

IT'S HAPPENING! More of Khamenei’s cult of personality posters are being ripped down by the Iranian people! #IranProtests #IranianProtests #IranProtests

The US has warned Iran to respect people's right to protest, as rare anti-government rallies, which began over the high cost of living, grip cities in the Islamic Republic. About 300 people protested in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran, on Friday, according to the semi-state news agency Fars. Police there used water cannon and tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Protests also broke out in the capital, Tehran, according to social media. Protests reported in Tehran, Kermanshah and Mashhad US President Donald Trump took to Twitter late on Friday, writing: "Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up...

Protests held in the cities of Yazd, Mashhad, Shahrood, Kashmar numbering in the thousands. They are demonstrating against high prices, unemployment, and the gov't spending money & lives in their involvement in Lebanon & Syria. None of the protests were in Tehran. This video is a compilation of protests. "Protesters were heard chanting 'Death to Rouhani' and 'Death to the dictator'"

Protesters took the streets in more than a half-dozen cities in Iran for a second day Friday, risking their lives to challenge the Islamist tyranny that has prevailed in the country since 1979, when it held American diplomats hostage. Whether the protests last only another day or persist long enough to imperil the Iranian regime, President Trump should make it clear that America gives the protesters our moral support. The protests began as demonstrations against austere economic conditions but have now grown to express general opposition to the Islamist government. Instead of the usual Iranian crowds stage-managed by government thugs...