Defiant Khamenei 'won't back down' in face of Iran protests

PARIS, Jan 09 (AFP): Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday insisted that the Islamic republic would "not back down" in the face of protests after the biggest rallies yet in an almost two week movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living.

Chanting slogans including "death to the dictator" and setting fire to official buildings, crowds of people opposed to the clerical establishment marched through major cities late Thursday.

Internet monitor Netblocks said authorities had imposed a total connectivity blackout late Thursday and added early Friday that the country has "now been offline for 12 hours... in an attempt to suppress sweeping protests".

The demonstrations represent one of the biggest challenges yet to the Islamic republic in its over four-and-a half decades of existence, with protesters openly calling for an end to its theocratic rule.

But Khamenei struck a defiant tone in his first comments on the protests that have been escalating since January 3, calling the demonstrators "vandals" and "saboteurs", in a speech broadcast on state TV.

Khamenei said US President Donald Trump's hands "are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians", in apparent reference to Israel's June war against the Islamic republic which the US supported and joined with strikes of its own.

He predicted the "arrogant" US leader would be "overthrown" like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.

Meanwhile, Iran is prepared to go to war if confronted but does not seek conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister (FM) Abbas Araghchi said Thursday during a visit to Lebanon, while emphasizing Tehran remains open to negotiations based on mutual respect.

Speaking to reporters at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, Araghchi said, "We are prepared for any scenario. We do not want war, but we are fully ready for it," and stressed that talks "cannot proceed under pressure or dictates," according to Lebanon's National News Agency.