The Iranian army has pledged to safeguard strategic infrastructure and public property amid crackdown on protests across the country.
It urged Iranians to thwart “the enemy’s plots,” in remarks after US President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Iran’s leaders over escalating antigovernment protests.
In a statement published by semi-official news sites, the military accused Israel and “hostile terrorist groups” of seeking to “undermine the country’s public security,” as Tehran stepped up efforts to quell the country’s biggest protests in years over the cost of living, which have left dozens dead.
“The 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’s strategic infrastructure, and public property.”
Iran’s army statement
State TV reported that Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which operates separately from the army, also warned on today that safeguarding the 1979 revolution’s achievements and the country’s security was a “red line.”
Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark today, with the country’s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world.
Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. However, the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 65 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings. On Friday, he called the demonstrators “vandals” and “saboteurs.”
Tehran escalated its threats today, with the Iran’s Attorney General, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said that even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.
The statement noted that prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, “by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country.” He added that proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.
The demonstrations began December 28, 2025 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, in anger over the rising cost of living, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program.
The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy. The clerical system has ruled the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution that removed a pro-Western Shah ruler.
The protests are the biggest in Iran since the 2022-2023 protest movement prompted by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the dress rules for women.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets today and Sunday.
He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”
US Offers Support For Protesters
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support for the protesters. “The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio wrote today on the social platform X.
The post came hours after Trump issued a new warning to Iran’s leaders, saying, “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
The State Department separately warned, “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
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