Friday Prayers
Hard-line cleric Ahmad Khatami is scheduled to preside over Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Mosque in Tehran shortly.
Khatami is a staunch critic of President Hassan Rohani and is expected to speak against the antigovernment protests.
There’s a heavy police presence in Tehran.
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Iran coverage here.
Telegram Blocked, WeChat Unblocked
This footage purports to show a member of the IRGC in Tehran smashing the windows of a car on January 4, via Voice of America.
Student activist reportedly arrested in Tehran
Footage showing security forces on the streets in the western city of Hamadan, which has been the scene of antigovernment protests.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has issued a statement on the continuing protests in Iran:
The Iranian people have been expressing their desire for dignified treatment, an end to corruption, improved transparency, and increased economic opportunities. Protestors have also demanded that the regime stop diverting the nation’s wealth to fund military adventurism abroad. Unfortunately, the government continues to imprison and kill those who are brave enough to venture into the street. It is limiting the flow of information into Iran, restricting free speech, and attempting to prevent the outside world from observing its own repression.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the deaths to date and the arrests of at least one thousand Iranians. We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protestors, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran. To the regime’s victims, we say: You will not be forgotten.
Voices From Iran
Reuters has interviewed several Iranian protesters.
Maryam Azemi, 48, a mother of two in the city of Karaj near Tehran:
"I voted for [former reformist President Mohammad] Khatami and Rohani, hoping for change. Hoping for freedom. Hoping to live like a normal human being. But nothing has changed. I don’t trust anyone anymore."
"We waited so long for change in this country. We tried peaceful ways to bring change, like voting, but look at us now. The officials are competing with each other to rip us off.”
Protester Reza, 43, a father of three in the central city of Esfahan:
"I don’t want to harm my country but when I see those who run this country are so corrupt, I feel like I am being suffocated. They just talk. They accuse 'the enemies' of everything. I am not an enemy. I am an Iranian. I love my country. Stop stealing my money, my children’s money.”