Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday acknowledged the economic demands of protesters in Iran, where demonstrations have spread to more than two dozen cities, even as he warned there would be no quarter for "rioters".
The protests began on Sunday as an expression of discontent over high prices and economic stagnation, but have since expanded to include political demands.
"The president and high-ranking officials are working to resolve" the economic difficulties in the sanctions-battered country, Khamenei said in a speech marking a Shiite holiday.
"The shopkeepers have protested against this situation and that is completely fair," he added.
But Khamenei nonetheless warned that while "authorities must have dialogue with protesters, it is useless to have dialogue with rioters. Those must be put in their place."
At least eight people, including members of the security services, have been killed in the protests so far.
The first deaths were reported on Thursday as demonstrators clashed with authorities.
On Saturday, a member of an Iranian paramilitary force was killed during a demonstration in the country’s west.
"Ali Azizi, a member of the Basij, was martyred after being stabbed and shot in the city of Harsin during a gathering of armed rioters," Mehr said, citing a statement from the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the military that oversees the volunteer Basij force.
A man was killed on Friday in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, when a grenade exploded "in his hands".
The protests have mostly been concentrated in mid-sized cities in Iran's west and southwest, where clashes and vandalism have been reported.
At least 25 cities have seen protest gatherings of varying sizes.
However, local media do not necessarily report on every incident, and state media have downplayed coverage of protests, while videos flooding social media are often impossible to verify.
On Saturday, a public holiday, the atmosphere in the capital appeared quiet, with streets mostly empty as the skies spat rain and snow.
In Darehshahr, in the country's west, around 300 people blocked streets, threw molotov cocktails and "brandished Kalashnikovs" on Friday.
The movement kicked off on Sunday when shopkeepers went on strike in Tehran to protest economic conditions, and spread after university students elsewhere in the country took up the cause.
In recent days, the protests have taken on a more overtly political bent.
In Karaj, on the outskirts of the capital, "a few people burned the Iranian flag, shouting 'Death to the dictator!' and 'This isn’t the last battle, Pahlavi is coming back!'"
The pro-Western Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran from 1925 to 1979, when it was toppled by the Islamic revolution.
Since the protests began, authorities have adopted a conciliatory tone when it comes to economic demands, while warning that destabilisation and chaos will not be tolerated.
Though widespread, the demonstrations are smaller than the ones that broke out in 2022, triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women.
Her death sparked a nationwide wave of anger that left several hundred people dead.
Iran was also gripped by nationwide protests that began in late 2019 over a rise in fuel prices, eventually leading to calls to topple the country's clerical rulers.
