Nearly 50 years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew his father, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has spurred demonstrators onto the streets.

In exile for nearly 50 years, Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has issued calls urging Iranians to join protests sweeping the country. But support for him may not be clear cut.

Social media giant X has replaced the current Iranian flag symbol on its platform to the lion-and-sun flag used in the country before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Iran's current flag includes equal horizontal bands of green, white and red, with the Islamic emblem in red centred on the white band.

A protester briefly replaced the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its London embassy with a former flag, flown before 1979, during a demonstration Saturday, witnesses told AFP. A video posted to social media showed a man on the balcony of the embassy,

As Iran's exiled crown prince predicts his imminent return, the Islamic Republic shirks Trump's warnings and threatens protesters with maximum punishment.

Over five decades, Iran has seen repeated protest waves, from the 1979 revolution to recent unrest driven by economic collapse, political repression and social control, shaping the country’s modern history.

Iran’s government has cut off the country from the internet and international telephone calls. The move Thursday night comes after nighttime demonstration called by the exiled crown prince drew a mass of protesters to shout from their windows and storm the streets.

There were fresh reports of violence across Iran, although an internet blackout made it difficult to assess the full extent of unrest.

The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution