2025-2026 Iranian Protests

[HISPIDA]

Growing Iran protests rattle leaders as Trump threatens to intervene

Widespread protests have rocked Iran for nearly a week and led to increasing violent clashes with security forces, prompting President Donald Trump to threaten intervention if a crackdown continues.

The protests, which started with economic grievances by shopkeepers in Tehran and quickly spread to remote cities in provinces like Fars and Lorestan, where protesters chanted slogans against the ruling clerics, have raised pointed questions for the country’s leaders about how much support they really enjoy.

Ali Larijani, who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged Friday without providing evidence that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the escalating demonstrations. And Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a post on X that Trump’s threat of intervention makes U.S. bases in the region “legitimate targets.”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump had said that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.” He did not specify what this would mean.

Iranian officials attempted to project a united front with ordinary citizens in June, when the Israeli military battered the country in a 12-day war, partly joined by the U.S. military. The war killed more than 1,000 people including top military leaders and nuclear scientists, according to state media, and wreaked havoc on its nuclear facilities.

On Monday, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump issued a fresh threat to “knock the hell out of” Iran if the Islamic Republic attempts to rebuild its nuclear program or expand its ballistic missile program.

Saturday’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who enjoyed a warm relationship with Tehran, has also incensed Iran’s political elites, who have decried the U.S. operation as “a clear example of state terrorism.” But as tensions with the U.S. escalate once again, Iran appears far from having the unity projected last year.

“Iranians were facing bombardment by external powers and so they had no choice but to stick together. And I think that we should take that for what it was. Did [Iranians] coming together mean that they suddenly abandoned all of their contentious feelings towards the regime or its leadership? Absolutely not. They’re not mutually exclusive feelings,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, told NBC News in a telephone interview.

“And I think that Iranians still feel quite united amidst the many challenges that they face, challenges from abroad, challenges from their governance system and their leadership that isn’t willing to reform or change,” Vakil said,

Even before the joint Israeli and U.S. attack in June, Iran’s economy was in a tailspin, battered by sanctions, rising inflation and the devaluation of the Iranian currency against the U.S. dollar, which led to families struggling hard to make ends meet as the value of their savings plunged, analysts say.

The country’s problems were compounded by a water and energy crisis last year that led to dry taps and electricity blackouts.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has attempted to at least partly shoulder the blame for the country’s woes and even suggested on Monday that the interior minister should meet with leaders among the protesters to address their concerns and try to solve their problems.

“If the people are dissatisfied, we and you are to blame. Don’t look for America or someone else to blame,” Pezeshkian said on Thursday while visiting officials in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari in central Iran, according to state media. “We need to serve properly so the people are satisfied with us.”

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norwegian-registered Kurdish watchdog that monitors rights violations across Iran, reported on Thursday that two protesters were killed by security forces in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, perhaps highlighting the limits of Pezeshkian’s powers in dealing with the protests.

“He is trying to limit, I think, the nature of the anger. He’s trying to say it’s all because of the currency collapse, because of inflation,” Abbas Milani, the director of the Iranian studies program at Stanford University, told NBC News in a telephone interview.

“I don’t think that people see it that way. I think the people see the currency collapse and the inflation as the consequence of the regime’s inherent corruption and incapacity,” Milani said. “They want the regime changed.”

Hengaw reported the death of 10 people during six days of protests, including one man who was killed by security forces on Friday in Kermanshah province in northwest Iran.

It remains to be seen whether Trump’s threats of intervention will encourage the protesters or lead security forces to hold their fire.

“People could feel slightly more confident and emboldened thinking that the United States might actually be more than rhetorically supportive,” said Vakil of Chatham House. “But I worry that they might be disappointed, not understanding that the United States is very much focused on outcomes and interests that benefit the United States and not really benevolent towards the Iranian people.”

Still, whether the protests expand and continue or are crushed by force like similar protests in 2022 and 2023 — when approximately 500 people were killed and thousands were arrested — will largely depend on the will of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the Islamic Republic, analysts say. He has not spoken publicly about the protests in the past week.

“They will have a scorched-earth policy,” Milani from Stanford said.

TL;DR: hundreds, if not thousands of iranians have taken to the streets beginning protests and riots against the government, calling for the government to be overthrown, against the increasing devaluation of the iranian rial, and for international sanctions on iran to be lifted, setting fire to multiple IRGC bases. ali khameini reportedly has a plan to flee to moscow if security forces turn against the government.

personally, i hope this lays the foundations for the overthrow of the IRI. not entirely sure what would emerge from the aftermath, though: it feels like the only options are the continued existence of the IRI (yucky!) or a puppet regime being established (gross!), but if the iranian people want to overthrow the regime then they certainly have every right and the authority to do so. if the iranian people do overthrow the government then i only hope whatever emerges refuses to bend the knee to the US and is better for the average iranian than the islamic republic.

but, hey, that's just me. what do you think?

[Slembana]

I agree. I hope that what rises from the ashes of the IRI isn’t a puppet state that will be pro-US.

[Pale Dawn]

I think the relative stability of the ir is better than the likely civil war an overthrow would easily result in. That the current regime is anti US doesn’t particularly bother me. That the resulting fractored state would be a puppet for one side or the other doesn’t bother me. The enormous death toll such an event will likely lead to does bother me. Really i should be rooting for it from a nationalistic stand point to make them go to the petrodollar but id rather millions didn't die.

[The Imagination Animals]

I'm doubtful this will lead to Iran's regime falling. They survived the 2009 Green Revolution and the Mahsa Amini protests, both of which people thought were gonna lead to the collapse of the government. I could be wrong and this could be a different case. Even if this does lead to the regime's fall, I fear Iran would become much more unstable.

[Stellar Colonies]

Protests and US warnings shake Iran at its weakest point in years (BBC)
By Amir Azimi

Iran is no stranger to street protests, but several factors surrounding the current unrest make it very serious.

Monday marks the ninth day since demonstrations broke out, yet even four or five days were enough for President Trump to issue a direct warning to Iranian leaders over the treatment of protesters, saying the US was "locked and loaded". Then came the US special forces operation targeting Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, followed by a second warning on Sunday.

Such direct and potential threats from a sitting US president, issued while protests are still ongoing, are highly unusual and could embolden demonstrators and encourage the unrest to spread further.

Iranian police and security forces have already responded violently almost from the outset, and reports by human rights groups claim that more than 20 people have already been killed. Now eyes are on Trump's possible move.

The protests, which began peacefully on Sunday 28 December, were initially driven by public anger over soaring inflation and the sharp devaluation of the local currency against the US dollar which now stands at about 80% higher than a year ago.

Iran's economy is in deep trouble, with little prospect for growth this year or next. Official annual inflation stands at around 42%, food inflation exceeds 70%, and some basic goods have reportedly risen in price by more than 110%.

Vulnerable position

International sanctions led by the United States have played a major role in worsening economic conditions, but they are not the full story.

High-profile corruption cases in Iranian courts involving senior officials and their families have reinforced public anger and the belief that parts of the ruling elite are exploiting the crisis.

Many ordinary Iranians believe that certain officials and their relatives benefit directly from sanctions through special arrangements that allow them to control imports and exports, move oil revenues abroad, and profit from money laundering networks.

Even the government officials believe those who are locally called "Sanctions Profiteers" are to blame more than the sanctions themselves.

Merchants in Tehran's Grand Bazaar were among the first groups to openly protest, closing their shops in response to daily currency fluctuations and taking to the streets to demand government intervention to stabilise the markets.

Demonstrations soon spread beyond the bazaar to other segments of society. Economic slogans quickly turned political, with calls for the removal of the entire Islamic Republic itself.

Students joined the protests, followed by small businesses in other cities and towns and other ordinary Iranians. Within days, chants against Iran's supreme leader once again became a central feature of the demonstrations.

The last time Iran experienced unrest on a comparable national scale was around four years ago, when the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman in the custody of the morality police sparked the most widespread anti-government protests since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Those demonstrations, which later became known as the "Mahsa Movement" or "Woman, Life, Freedom", shook the foundations of the state but were eventually suppressed through force and mass arrests.

Although the current protests have spread rapidly and persisted for days, they have not yet reached the scale or intensity of the 2022 demonstrations.

Journalists in Iran are under immense pressure, and independent international news organisations are either not allowed to report from inside the country or, if granted permission, face severe restrictions on their movements.

As a result, much of what is known comes from social media and people on the streets sharing what they witness and record. This makes verification increasingly difficult, especially as social media can also provide fertile ground for fabrications, unfounded claims, and distorted realities, a challenge further intensified by the rise of AI.

Against this backdrop, many observers believe the present situation could have more serious consequences than 2022. Iran's government is widely seen as being at its weakest point in decades, facing simultaneous pressure from domestic unrest and a dramatically altered regional environment.

Series of setbacks

The 12-day war in the summer of 2025 between Iran and Israel marked a turning point. The conflict culminated in direct US involvement, including air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The war severely damaged Iran's defence capacity, nuclear infrastructure, and several military and industrial sites.

At the same time, Iran's broader regional position has deteriorated. The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria deprived Tehran of a key ally, while sustained Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon eliminated much of the group's senior leadership.

More recently, US operations in Venezuela and snatching of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have further narrowed Iran's options abroad.

These developments have reshaped the regional and international environment for Tehran. Iran now has fewer allies to rely on in regional conflicts and fewer channels to move oil revenues overseas.

This is particularly significant given Iran's heavy involvement in Venezuela's oil sector alongside Russia, and its reliance on complex financial arrangements linked to markets believed to be in China.

The disruption of these networks has increased Iran's economic vulnerability at a time of mounting internal pressure.

Against this backdrop, Iran's aging supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, appears to be facing one of the most uncertain moments of his rule.

More than three decades of careful planning to build regional proxy forces, sanction-evasion mechanisms, and nuclear infrastructure have been undermined or destroyed in a relatively short period of time.

With Trump back in the White House and Benjamin Netanyahu in power in Israel, there appears to be no clear diplomatic or strategic path out of the current crisis without a hefty price.

For years, Khamenei and his inner circle justified massive spending on regional allies and the nuclear program as necessary investments in Iran's long-term security and technological advancement.

Today, that argument appears increasingly hollow. As pressure builds both inside and outside the country, security at home, once presented as the ultimate payoff of those policies, seems more distant than ever.

I don’t think these protests are going to bring down the regime (haven’t yet gotten as big as the ones a few years back over their sharia laws), although I can see why they’d be spooked as, alongside the protests, they continue dealing with the fallout of their own mismanagement, Israel stirs the pot, and an emboldened Trump hurls threats at them after very easily snatching one of their allies.

[Stellar Colonies]

Protests enter the 9th day, and and three children were killed during the protests today in Iran

Three children dead in Iran protests as security forces accused of ‘indiscriminate targeting’ (The Guardian)
By Deepa Parent

Escalating protests sparked by economic chaos have seen at least 20 people killed and nearly 1,000 arrested, say human rights groups

At least three children are reported to have been killed and more than 40 minors arrested after eight days of the ongoing protests across Iran, as human rights groups accuse the regime’s security forces of “indiscriminate targeting of civilians”.

The nationwide uprising sparked by the collapse of the country’s currency and rising living costs has spread to at least 78 cities and 222 locations, with demonstrators calling for the end of the regime, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI).

The protests continued over the weekend despite a worsening crackdown by security forces after comments from the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who addressed protesters as “rioters”. So far, 990 people have been arrested and at least 20 killed, according to HRAI.

Among the minors reportedly killed was Mostafa Falahi, a 15-year-old from the city of Azna, in central Iran. The Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said Falahi had been killed when security forces opened fire on protesters on 1 January. The group also reported the death of another minor, 17-year-old Rasul Kadivarian, who was killed along with his 20-year-old brother, Reza, on 3 January when security forces fired directly on protesters in the city of Kermanshah.

A third child, a 17-year-old whose death was reported by state media in the city of Qom, in central Iran, has also been confirmed by human rights groups, who said their identity had yet to be verified.

Skylar Thompson, deputy director of HRAI, told the Guardian the group had documented the killings, as well as the arrests of at least 44 children.

“These numbers provide clear evidence that youth are present throughout the ongoing protests. The indiscriminate targeting of a civilian population must be widely condemned as a violation of international law, especially with the clear illustration of children present,” Thompson said.

During the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran in 2022 more than 500 people were reportedly killed, including at least 60 children, some as young as eight years old.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a witness from the district of Malekshahi, in Ilam, western Iran, said crowds over the weekend had been chanting anti-government slogans and demanding the release of protesters already detained.

“We then gathered in front of a government building. That was when the forces opened fire on us. It felt as if they were shooting at enemies or armed groups. I felt like I was in a war zone. I saw several people injured, and I believe some were killed on the spot. We tried to take the wounded to hospitals and prevent government forces from arresting injured protesters,” the witness said.

Human rights groups reported late Saturday and Sunday night that the security forces had raided and attacked the Khomeini hospital in the city of Ilam, western Iran, where injured protesters had been taken.

Awyar Shekhi from Hengaw, said: “State forces are firing directly at gatherings and protests without regard for whether those targeted are children or adults. The crackdowns are brutal: teargas and military-grade weapons are being used, and detainees are severely beaten before being transferred to undisclosed locations.”

Another witness from Qom said the security forces could see there were teenagers and children among the protesters, “but that didn’t stop them from firing pellets, teargas and gunfire. The whole situation is only getting more deadly.”

[San Fransico Ape Colony]

Free Iran from the Islamic Republic!

[Humanlonia]

I think the relative stability of the ir is better than the likely civil war an overthrow would easily result in. That the current regime is anti US doesn’t particularly bother me. That the resulting fractored state would be a puppet for one side or the other doesn’t bother me. The enormous death toll such an event will likely lead to does bother me. Really i should be rooting for it from a nationalistic stand point to make them go to the petrodollar but id rather millions didn't die.

This "stability" won't last forever. Sooner or later, the regime will fall, and the later it happens, the more victims there will be, both victims of the regime and victims of the ensuing chaos. The sooner, the better.

[Anonymegg]

I agree. I hope that what rises from the ashes of the IRI isn’t a puppet state that will be pro-US.

It's time all US and Russian puppets break free from their chains and stop those two pigs from dominating geopolitics

[Pale Dawn]

I think the relative stability of the ir is better than the likely civil war an overthrow would easily result in. That the current regime is anti US doesn’t particularly bother me. That the resulting fractored state would be a puppet for one side or the other doesn’t bother me. The enormous death toll such an event will likely lead to does bother me. Really i should be rooting for it from a nationalistic stand point to make them go to the petrodollar but id rather millions didn't die.

This "stability" won't last forever. Sooner or later, the regime will fall, and the later it happens, the more victims there will be, both victims of the regime and victims of the ensuing chaos. The sooner, the better.

Sooner because fewer will die in the interim?

Same for America, China and literally anywhere else.

If they die regardless why is sooner to my benefit?

[Humanlonia]

This "stability" won't last forever. Sooner or later, the regime will fall, and the later it happens, the more victims there will be, both victims of the regime and victims of the ensuing chaos. The sooner, the better.

Sooner because fewer will die in the interim?

Same for America, China and literally anywhere else.

If they die regardless why is sooner to my benefit?

Because you hate the regime and you know it's going to get you. It's better to die fighting.

[Pale Dawn]

Sooner because fewer will die in the interim?

Same for America, China and literally anywhere else.

If they die regardless why is sooner to my benefit?

Because you hate the regime and you know it's going to get you. It's better to die fighting.

Thats not a thresold you can assume from the outside. I personally an American would benefit from a puppet regime. I personally an American dont want to see the cost that would take. So I personally do not want to see it fall. They may feel differently and i may feel differently sitting there. But i see the cost benefit ratio as being to high for me to support it.

[-Saiwania-]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

[Camtropia]

Said it before in the Middle Eastern thread and I'll say it again here.

Even if the Iranian regime manages to survive this latest wave of unrest, it's becoming clear that the population - especially the young - are increasingly unhappy with the oppression and mis-management of the government. I don't think the regime will survive past Khamenei's death, and given he's 86 years old, that's something that's going to be on the cards reasonably soon.

On a side note, I do wonder if the reason why the US has assassinated so many other Iranian politicians and military leaders in recent years but doesn't seem to have made any attempts on the Ayatollah himself, is because they know he's probably going to die of natural causes within a few years anyway, and killing him would just make him a martyr (including in the original religious sense) for his supporters.

[Humanlonia]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

Yes, you have. King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms Charles III.

[The Imagination Animals]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

No, let’s not. The Shah was a terrible ruler.

[Humanlonia]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

No, let’s not. The Shah was a terrible ruler.

There is no longer the same Shah there and it would be better to make him a formal ruler, as in the United Kingdom.

[-Saiwania-]

No, let’s not. The Shah was a terrible ruler.

He was trying to modernize Iran, and his mercy on Khomeini backfired. Other autocratic rulers lean towards executing their enemies instead of exile, if historically exile doesn't work in effectively removing thorns in their side?

[Anonymegg]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

That could cause more harm than good. People don't overthrow monarchs for no reason.

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

Yes, you have. King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms Charles III.

If the Shah is to come back, he should be the closest relative of the last Shah, not the head of the House of Windsor

[Vuvuvia]

The Regime is like giving a epileptic paranoid schizophrenic a gun and sending him into a nightclub.

Also in here before Khardsland or Sanadia.

I would rather the US and Israel stay out of the Iranian peoples business though, if a leader is to be chosen it should be by the people.

[The Imagination Animals]

No, let’s not. The Shah was a terrible ruler.

He was trying to modernize Iran, and his mercy on Khomeini backfired. Other autocratic rulers lean towards executing their enemies instead of exile, if historically exile doesn't work in effectively removing thorns in their side?

The Whie Revolution mostly benefited the upper class. Plus, if the modernization worked out and life was prosperous under the Shah, the Revolution would not have happened.

[Dhornaper]

No, let’s not. The Shah was a terrible ruler.

He was trying to modernize Iran, and his mercy on Khomeini backfired. Other autocratic rulers lean towards executing their enemies instead of exile, if historically exile doesn't work in effectively removing thorns in their side?

A Persian ethnonationalist who shot hundreds of his own for protesting him.

The only difference between the Shah and current government is that Iran isn't ethnonationalistic under the Islamic Republic.

[Camtropia]

Bring back the Shah! We have an heir to the throne in the US who can be installed?

Yes, you have. King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms Charles III.

Installed as king in the US or in Iran?

Never mind. Both. Both is good.

[Chan Island]

Good luck to the protestors. Iranian Shahed drones have killed so many people in Ukraine, Russia losing their supplier would be a very good thing.

Not to mention the removal of an islamist government is ontologically a good thing.

[Vuvuvia]

The world should give Iran the resources to strike Israel

I should give a paranoid schizophrenic schoolchild a gun.