'Revolution is coming': Tensions escalate in Iran with 100,000 flooding city streets and chanting 'death to the dictator' as experts predict regime change is imminent
- Protests erupted last week ahead of US sanctions which started on Monday
- They have continued this week with people chanting 'death to the dictator'
- One expert told MailOnline today that country is on the brink of revolution
- Comes after dramatic drop of Iran's currency and other economic problems
Iran is on the brink of revolution as tensions escalate with thousands flooding city streets and chanting 'death to the dictator,' an expert has warned.
Protests erupted last week ahead of renewed US sanctions which came into force on Tuesday hitting Tehran's access to US banknotes and key industries such as cars and carpets.
Videos shared online showed furious Iranians burning tyres and setting fire to police vehicles as demonstrations spun out of control.
Iran is on the brink of revolution as tensions escalate with thousands flooding city streets and chanting 'death to the dictator.' Pictured: A cleric speaks to a crowd of protesters demonstrating in Mashhad
The protests have continued this week as Iranians - suffering high inflation and a currency crisis - demand a change from the hard-line Muslim regime
The protests have continued this week as Iranians - suffering high inflation and a currency crisis - demand a change from the hard-line Muslim regime.
One expert told MailOnline today that these protests are unprecedented and Iran is on the edge of revolution.
Hanif Jazayeri, of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said: 'We had protests in 2009 but these are different because people are calling for the death of the President and the Supreme Leader. They have broken a lot of taboos.
'The demonstrations are not just over economic issues but very quickly turned political due to the regime's repression of the Iranian people with regard to women's rights, freedom of speech and other basic freedoms.
'The chants are directed at the entirety of the regime and protesters are demanding regime change.'
He added: 'The rial has lost 99 per cent of its value and people know the regime will not have a better situation to offer the people because of the new sanctions from the US.
'People are starting to wake up and see that revolution is a real possibility. I think there will be one.'
Scattered protests broke out in several Iranian cities on Thursday to rail against the regime
Iran entered its third day of protests as furious citizens took to the streets to rail against the regime they blame for devastating the country's economy. Pictured, protesters were reportedly seen burning tyres during demonstrations against the regime
'Whatever follows could bring us much bigger problems': German foreign minister warns against regime change in Iran
Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran could further destabilise the Middle East and boost radical forces in the region, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Wednesday.
Trump brought back the punishing sanctions after unilaterally pulling out of a landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and Western powers to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions.
'We still think that it is a mistake to give up on the nuclear accord with Iran,' Maas said in an interview with the daily Passauer Neue Presse.
'We are fighting for the deal because it also serves our purpose by bringing about security and transparency in the region.'
The US sanctions could boost radical forces in the region, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (pictured) warned on Wednesday
Noting Iran's geographic proximity to Europe, Maas warned that 'anyone who's hoping for regime change must not forget that whatever follows could bring us much bigger problems.'
'Isolating Iran could boost radical and fundamentalist forces,' he said, adding that 'chaos in Iran, as we have experienced in Iraq or Libya, would further destabilise an already troubled region.'
In a desperate bid to save the nuclear accord, European governments have pledged to do what they can to keep business links with Tehran.
Despite the political will to hold firm, many large European firms such as German automaker Daimler are leaving Iran for fear of US penalties.
The US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, welcomed the news.
'We are pleased to see German businesses stopping their trade with Iran, complying with U.S. sanctions, and helping pressure the Iranian regime back to the table,' he tweeted.
'We stand together to stop Iran's malign activities.'
Mr Jazayeri said these protests were unimaginable a few years ago and that brave activists are putting themselves at risk of arrest if they caught.
In the protests many chanted 'death to the dictator' in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
'The nation is forced to beg while the leader lives like God,' was also among the furious chants.
One video claimed to show 100,000 football fans protesting in the street after a game.
Police said the demonstrators had attempted to damage public buildings.
In videos circulated on social media and purporting to have been taken in the town of Gohardasht, a suburb of Karaj, dozens of demonstrators can be seen in the streets, setting fire to police vehicles and shouting 'death to the dictator.'
Police responded with tear gas.
Another video purportedly from Isfahan in central Iran showed protesters setting tyres ablaze in a bid to evade arrest.
Another video purportedly from Isfahan in central Iran showed protesters setting tyres ablaze in a bid to evade arrest, bringing traffic on Khomeini Highway to a halt
'Scattered protests' of a few hundred people were reported by state news agencies on Thursday, which police had brought under control.
About 100 people took to the streets in the northern city of Sari, as well as unspecified numbers in the cities of Shiraz, Ahavz and Mashhad, IRNA said.
Videos posted on social media have shown days of demonstrations in Isfahan and minor protests in the capital on Thursday night.
So far, they have not been on the scale of the violent unrest that gripped dozens of towns and cities in December and January.
'Death to the dictator' and 'the nation is forced to beg while the leader lives like God,' were among the furious chants against the Iranian regime at protests
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has said that Iran's economy will not recover until the regime is toppled.
According to the NCR, the Iranian regime spent billions funding war in Syria and conflicts across the Middle East - as well as funding terrorism and supporting proxy groups 'that carry out criminal activities on its behalf.
Iranians are hunkering down for the return of US sanctions with a run on gold and hard currency as they scramble to protect their savings, and sporadic protests over the already troubled economy.
Many wealthy Iranians are leaving the country, while others have been gripped by a bunker mentality, stocking up on provisions, dollars and gold in order to ride out the storm.
About 100 people took to the streets in the northern city of Sari, as well as unspecified numbers in the cities of Shiraz (pictured)
Customers were cheek-to-jowl in the narrow alleys of Tehran's Grand Bazaar this week.
'People are worried that if they don't buy things today, they won't be available tomorrow,' said Ali, who runs a kitchen store in the bazaar, adding that wholesalers were hoarding new stock while they waited to see how the crisis unfolded.
Multinational firms that rushed to cash in three years ago - such as France's energy giant Total and carmakers Peugeot and Renault - are already packing up.
A decision to fix the exchange rate in April and arrest unlicensed currency dealers backfired spectacularly and triggered a boom in the black market.
The US walked out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May and is bringing back 'maximum pressure' sanctions for most sectors on August 6, and the energy sector on November 4.
Cars drive by a poster depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Tuesday
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