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New Delhi: Exiled Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, on Saturday called for expanded street protests across the country and urged workers in key sectors to launch nationwide strikes, as he sought to intensify pressure on Iran's ruling establishment.
In a post on X, Pahlavi praised protesters for returning to the streets across Iran, describing their mobilisation as a strong response to what he termed threats from the Islamic Republic's leadership. He said sustained public presence, combined with disrupting financial and economic systems, could weaken the state's security apparatus.
Pahlavi appealed to workers in transport, oil and gas, and the energy sector to begin a nationwide strike, calling these sectors critical to exerting pressure on the government.
He also urged people to return to the streets over the weekend, carry national symbols, and reclaim public spaces. Pahlavi said protesters should move towards more central areas of cities via multiple routes, link separate groups together, and prepare to remain on the streets.
"I also ask all of you, today and tomorrow -- Saturday and Sunday (20 and 21 Dey) -- to take to the streets again, this time from 6 pm onwards, carrying national flags, images and symbols, and to reclaim public spaces as your own. Our goal is no longer merely to come out onto the streets; the goal is to prepare to seize control of city centres and hold them," he wrote.
In his message, Pahlavi addressed members of Iran's armed and security forces who oppose the government, urging them to further slow and disrupt what he described as the machinery of repression.
He said he was preparing to return to Iran and expressed confidence that what he called a national movement for change was nearing a decisive phase. "I, too, am preparing to return to the homeland so that, at the moment of victory of our national revolution, I can stand beside you, the great nation of Iran. I believe that day is very near," he wrote further.
The post comes amid continued unrest in Iran with reports claiming over 60 deaths.
Meanwhile, the United States is to blame for "the transformation of peaceful protests into violent, subversive acts and widespread vandalism" in Iran, the country’s United Nations ambassador told the Security Council on Friday.
Iran condemns "the ongoing, unlawful, and irresponsible conduct of the United States of America, in coordination with the Israeli regime, in interfering in Iran's internal affairs through threats, incitement, and the deliberate encouragement of instability and violence", Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani wrote in a letter, according to a Reuters report.
He accused Washington of "destabilising practices" that undermine the founding UN Charter, violate fundamental principles of international law, and threaten the foundations of international peace and security.
