Crowds chanted "Leader, we are ready" as images showed vast numbers marching through the cities of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Gorgan and elsewhere. 

 

The crowds waved Iranian flags and pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as placards reading "Death to seditionists". 

 

"We offer the blood in our veins to our leader," was another popular chant.

 

The rallies followed several days of unrest -- initially sparked by protests over economic problems but quickly turning against the regime as a whole -- in which 21 people lost their lives and hundreds were arrested. 

 

Khamenei blamed foreign "enemies" for the demonstrations in a speech on Tuesday.