Protests in Iran erupted Thursday night after the country’s exiled crown prince called for mass demonstrations — which saw internet access and telephone lines cut just as they got underway.

The call from crown prince Reza Pahlavi, whose terminally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, has escalated the nationwide protests over the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy. 

“Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands,” Pahlavi said in a statement. 

“I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the (Revolutionary Guard) that the world and (President Donald Trump) are closely watching you,” he added, referencing Trump’s threat of military action in Iran if protesters are killed.  

“Suppression of the people will not go unanswered,” Pahlavi concluded. 

Pahlavi had called for the protests to start at 8 p.m. local time, with thousands of residents in Tehran yelling “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!” 

The demonstrators also called for a return of the shah, an act that would have resulted in the death sentence in the past.  

“This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” some residents shouted.  

But just as the demonstrations started, the nation experienced a large-scale communications blackout. 

Both CloudFlare, an internet firm, and the advocacy group NetBlocks, reported the internet outage and attributed the blackout to Iranian government interference.

Previous mass outages during protests have been followed by intense government crackdowns. 

At least 39 people have been killed so far in the clash between protesters and security, with more than 2,260 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. 

Iranian leaders have stressed that the regime is only going after “rioters” in an attempt to calm the situation as Tehran faces its biggest civil challenge since the 2022 protests over Mahsa Amini’s killing in custody. 

Tehran has notably strayed from its usual strategy of enforcing a brutal crackdown on dissent, with experts suggesting that the regime is taking Trump’s threats seriously. 

Trump reiterated his warning on Thursday, claiming that if protesters are killed, “We’re going to hit them very hard.” 

The demonstrations are being led by bazaar leaders and consumers angered by the current cost-of-living crisis and plummet of the Iranian national currency.

Pahlavi called for a second protest to be held at the same time on Friday, claiming that he would soon offer further plans depending on the response to his call. 

It remains to be seen how much national support Pahlavi will be able to draw up in Iran given his support of and from Israel following the 12-day war last year. 

Nate Swanson, of the Washington-based Atlantic Council, said that a real viable candidate to overthrow the regime has yet to emerge, but the protests may still result in a unifying figure.

“There may be a thousand Iranian dissident activists who, given a chance, could emerge as respected statesmen, as labor leader Lech Wałęsa did in Poland at the end of the Cold War,” Swanson wrote. 

“But so far, the Iranian security apparatus has arrested, persecuted and exiled all of the country’s potential transformational leaders,” he added.   

With Post Wires