{"id":196502,"date":"2026-01-11T09:58:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/irans-army-pledges-to-defend-national-interests-as-protests-continue-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T09:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:58:48","slug":"irans-army-pledges-to-defend-national-interests-as-protests-continue-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/irans-army-pledges-to-defend-national-interests-as-protests-continue-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s army pledges to defend \u2018national interests\u2019 as protests continue – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rights groups condemn internet blackout amid reports of mass arrests at antigovernment protests across Iran.<\/em>
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The Iranian army says it will defend the country\u2019s \u201cnational interests\u201d as antigovernment protests continue to escalate<\/a> amid widespread arrests and an internet blackout.
In a statement published by semi-official news sites on Saturday, the military accused Israel and \u201chostile terrorist groups\u201d of seeking to \u201cundermine the country\u2019s public security\u201d.
\u201cThe Army, under the command of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, together with other armed forces, in addition to monitoring enemy movements in the region, will resolutely protect and safeguard national interests, the country\u2019s strategic infrastructure, and public property,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The warning came as Tehran has stepped up efforts to ‍quell the country\u2019s largest protests in years, which have seen thousands of people take to the streets in anger over the soaring cost of living<\/a> and inflation.
Crowds gathered again on Saturday in the north of the Iranian capital, Tehran, setting off fireworks and banging pots as they shouted slogans in support of the country\u2019s ousted monarchy, according to video verified by the AFP news agency.
Other videos that could not be immediately verified also showed rallies in the city of Rasht in the north, Tabriz in the northwest, and Shiraz and Kerman in the south.<\/p>\n

Demonstrations have taken place across Iran since late December<\/a>, with growing calls for the end of the clerical system that has governed the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Human rights groups have urged restraint amid reports of protest-related casualties and mass arrests, with Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying at least 51 protesters, including nine children, have been killed by security forces, and hundreds more have been injured.
Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency said on Saturday that at least 200 \u201criot\u201d leaders had been arrested.
Amnesty International slammed a \u201cblanket internet shutdown\u201d imposed by the Iranian authorities<\/a>, saying it aimed to \u201chide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law they are carrying out to crush\u201d the protests.
Iran\u2019s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, on Saturday warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an \u201cenemy of God\u201d, a death penalty charge, state television reported.
Iran\u2019s ‍elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which operates separately from the army, also warned that \u200bsafeguarding ‍the 1979 revolution\u2019s ‍achievements and the \u2060country\u2019s security was a \u201cred line\u201d, \u200bstate \u200cTV reported.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump reiterated support for the Iranian demonstrators, writing on social media on Saturday afternoon that Washington \u201cstands ready to help\u201d.
Trump\u2019s post came a day after he warned the Iranian authorities<\/a> against cracking down on the protesters, telling reporters that \u201cif they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved\u201d.
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard \u2013 where it hurts,\u201d the US president said.
The US-based son of Iran\u2019s deposed shah<\/a> has also urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests, with the aim of taking and then holding city centres.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,\u201d Reza Pahlavi said in a video message on social media, urging more protests on Saturday and Sunday.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the demonstrators \u201cvandals\u201d.
In a speech broadcast on Press TV, Khamenei said Trump\u2019s hands \u201care stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians\u201d, in an apparent reference to Israel\u2019s attacks on Iran in June, which the US supported and joined<\/a> with strikes of its own.
Khamenei predicted that the \u201carrogant\u201d US leader would be \u201coverthrown\u201d like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.
\u201cEveryone knows the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people; it will not back down in the face of saboteurs,\u201d he said.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi also accused the US and Israel of \u201cdirectly intervening\u201d to try to \u201ctransform the peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones\u201d, claims a US Department of State spokesperson called \u201cdelusional\u201d.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations are the largest in Iran since a 2022-2023 protest movement spurred by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini<\/a>, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the country\u2019s strict dress code for women.
Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said that while the demonstrations were sporadic, they have grown in recent days, particularly in the capital.
\u201cThe state response started by recognising the right of people to peacefully protest, but as the situation started to escalate, the state has been trying to draw a line between protesters and what the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei called \u2018saboteurs\u2019 \u2013 against whom, he said, the Islamic Republic will not give in,\u201d said Asadi.
\u201cPublic dissatisfaction exists \u2013 whether or not people take to the streets. Many here are now watching to see how the government responds, not just to the protests, but to the economic hardships that they are facing in their daily lives,\u201d he said.
Asadi explained that the government has been trying to control the situation by tightening security measures and introducing a monthly subsidy of about $7 to people with low income who are struggling to cover their daily essentials.
But Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University Qatar, said that the subsidy would do little to stem public frustrations over soaring costs of living.
\u201cThe inflation rate is at 42 percent, according to the government. Unofficially, it\u2019s closer to 60 percent. So it doesn\u2019t seem as if this kind of measure is going to alleviate any sort of economic pressure on the population,\u201d Kamrava told Al Jazeera.
Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, said that even if the Iranian authorities can suppress the current protest movement, they will not be able to \u201caddress the underlying causes\u201d of the unrest.
\u201c[They are]\u00a0only buying time until the next round of confrontation between the state and the society,\u201d Vaez told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

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Rights groups condemn internet blackout amid reports of mass arrests at antigovernment protests across Iran.ShareSaveThe Iranian army says it will defend the country\u2019s \u201cnational interests\u201d as antigovernment protests continue to escalate amid widespread arrests and an internet blackout.In a statement published by semi-official news sites on Saturday, the military accused Israel and \u201chostile terrorist groups\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}