The United States supports the brave people of Iran, Rubio wrote succinctly on his X account. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been warning of a possible intervention in Iran due to the violence exercised against the protesters, who initially complained about the country's poor economic situation, although later their complaints extended to the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic. The Iranian Army, for its part, assured this Saturday that it will face any "plot" sponsored by the United States to incite instability and disrupt the security of the Islamic Republic. In a statement picked up by the Iranian agency Tasnim, the Army urged the population to "remain alert" and thwart "hostile plots that seek to incite instability and riots" in the country. The Iranian Army added that the "aggressive" and "perverse" government of the United States has hatched conspiracies to regain its dominance over the Iranian people, and defended that Washington has joined the "criminal Zionist regime," in reference to Israel, and "terrorist groups" to disrupt the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dozens of dead and hundreds detained The protests, which began with merchants from the Grand Bazaar of Tehran on December 28 and have spread to more than a hundred cities, have accumulated dozens of dead, according to opposition NGOs based abroad. The NGO Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), based in Oslo (Norway), reported on Friday that there are at least 51 dead since December 28. For its part, the organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which operates from the United States, speaks of at least 65 dead and 2,311 detained. Iran completes this Saturday two weeks of massive protests that have caused more than 50 deaths, encouraged by Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Persia, who has urged Iranians to continue demonstrating this weekend and start a general strike to bring down the Islamic Republic of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while the country has been without internet or international telephone service for almost 48 hours. "Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets; the goal is to prepare to take over the centers of the cities and maintain them," Pahlavi said on social networks, who has lived in exile since the 1979 Islamic revolution led by Ali Khamenei overthrew his father. In a message in Farsi published on his X account with a video, Pahlavi again called on Iranians to take to the streets this weekend, at 6:00 p.m. local time (14:30 GMT) on Saturday and Sunday, with flags, images, and national symbols. He also assured that he is preparing to "return to the homeland" to, at the "moment of victory of our revolution," be able to "be beside" the "great nation of Iran." On Saturday, the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, also addressed the inhabitants of that nation.
