The US-based son of Iran's ousted shah urged Iranians on Saturday to stage more targeted protests with the aim of taking and then holding city centers.
"Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centers," Reza Pahlavi said in a video message on social media, urging more protests on Saturday and Sunday and adding he was also "preparing to return to my homeland" in a day he believed was "very near".
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as video showed buildings aflame in anti-government protests raging in cities across the country.
Rights groups have already documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.
In a televised address, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of émigré opposition groups and the United States, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences.
