January 13, 2026 | 02:40 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tens of thousands of government supporters in Iran have taken to the streets in a show of support, gathering in Tehran amid escalating protests across the country over the past two weeks, according to The Guardian.
State television broadcast images of crowds filling Tehran’s streets on Monday, eventually converging at Enqelab Square. Demonstrators rallied in support of the Iranian government and condemned what they called “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism” rally.
At the square, parliamentary leader Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf delivered a speech criticizing Western interference.
Ghalibaf said that Iran is engaged in a four-front conflict, describing it as “an economic war, psychological warfare, military war against the US and Israel, and today a war against terrorism.”
Amid chants of “Death to Israel, Death to America” in Persian, he pledged that the Iranian military would teach former US President Donald Trump an unforgettable lesson if Iran were attacked.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described the demonstrations as a warning to American policymakers following threats from Trump of potential military intervention.
“These massive rallies, full of determination, have thwarted the plan of foreign enemies that were supposed to be carried out by domestic mercenaries,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state television.
Amid the ongoing unrest, Iranian authorities said the situation was under control. Human rights groups, however, reported that the protests have resulted in over 600 deaths. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the nationwide anti-government protests had now subsided.
“That's why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody, to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” he said, as cited by Al Jazeera via ABC.
On Monday, the government also called on pro-regime demonstrators to take to the streets to show their loyalty to the theocracy.
The event was broadcast on state television, showing crowds chanting “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Earlier on the same day, Trump said Iran was seeking negotiations with Washington following his threat of military action over Tehran’s crackdown on demonstrators. The Iranian government did not immediately respond to this statement.
Read: Indonesia Keeps Watch on Its Citizens in Iran as Protests Intensify
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