Protests in Iran have subsided after a crackdown that has killed thousands under an internet blackout, monitors said Friday, a week after the start of the largest demonstrations in years challenging the country’s theocratic system.

Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of Iran’s late shah, said he remained confident the Islamic Republic would fall and called for intervention, although the prospect of new U.S. military action against Iran appeared to have receded for now.

In posts on social media on Friday, Pahlavi announced a new coordinated demonstration, urging Iranians to “raise your voices in anger and protest with our national slogans” over the weekend.

Protests sparked by economic grievances began with a shutdown of Tehran’s bazaar on Dec. 28, then evolved into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Crowds poured into the streets of major cities from Jan. 8, but authorities quickly imposed an internet shutdown that has lasted more than a week. Activists say the move was intended to obscure the scale of the crackdown.

The “brutal” repression has “likely suppressed the protest movement for now,” said the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War, which has tracked protest activity.

But it added that the regime’s widespread mobilization of security forces was unsustainable, raising the possibility that protests could resume.

Pahlavi also told a news conference in Washington on Friday that “the Islamic republic will fall — not if, but when.”

“I will return to Iran,” he said.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights said 3,428 protesters have been verified as killed by security forces, warning the actual toll could be several times higher.

Other estimates place the death toll above 5,000 and possibly as high as 20,000, with the internet blackout severely limiting independent verification, the group said.

The opposition Iran International channel, based outside the country, said at least 12,000 people were killed, citing senior government and security sources.

IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam cited “horrifying eyewitness accounts” of protesters being shot while fleeing, the use of military-grade weapons, and the street execution of wounded demonstrators.

‘Give Iran a chance’

Monitor Netblocks said Iran’s “total internet blackout” had now exceeded 180 hours, longer than a similar measure imposed during protests in 2019.

Amnesty International said the blackout was reinforced by heavily armed patrols and checkpoints aimed at crushing “the nationwide popular uprising,” with security forces visible across cities.

Trump, who backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had not ruled out further military action and said he was watching closely for any executions of protesters.

A senior Saudi official said Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman led a “long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort” to persuade Trump to give Iran a chance to show goodwill.

While Washington appeared to have stepped back, the White House said Thursday that “all options remain on the table for the president.”

Attention focused on Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old protester and activist, who faced imminent execution.

Iran’s judiciary confirmed Soltani was detained but said he had not been sentenced to death and did not face capital punishment.

Rights groups estimate up to 20,000 people have been arrested. Security officials, cited by the Tasnim news agency, said that about 3,000 were detained.

‘All Iranians united’

The U.S. Treasury on Thursday announced new sanctions targeting Iranian officials, including Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in what the Kremlin called efforts to facilitate de-escalation.

Despite the shutdown, videos from the peak of the protests verified by journalists showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran as relatives searched for loved ones.

At the UN Security Council in New York, Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad said “all Iranians are united” against the clerical system.

Iran’s representative, Gholamhossein Darzi, accused Washington of exploiting peaceful protests for geopolitical purposes.