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Buildings, buses and shops were burned, Irancapital Tehran Entering the “war zone” protest The growth of calls for the downfall of the nation’s top leaders.
At least 500 people have been killed in clashes with police and more than 10,000 people have been arrested, according to human rights groups. They say the toll is likely to be higher as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime shuts itself off from the outside world by a near-total blockade of the internet.
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The unrest follows a tumultuous period for the regime, which is still recovering from 12 days of intense conflict in June. Israelsaw US military bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“This looks like a war zone – all the shops have been destroyed,” an Iranian journalist said before the fire on Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea port of Rasht.
Here’s what you need to know protest and challenges faced Irangovernment.
How widespread are the protests in Iran?
Hundreds of protests have broken out in all 31 provinces of Iran over the past two weeks.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said demonstrations had formed in 585 locations in 186 cities as of Sunday, the 15th day of opposition to the government’s actions.
The regime has stepped up its response in recent days, arresting at least 10,681 people, according to the American Human Rights Activists News Service. (HRANA) HRANA said another 544 people were killed, including 483 protesters, eight of whom were children.
Iran decided on Thursday to impose a nationwide internet blackout as the opposition encouraged Iranians to resist, making it difficult to count casualties and monitor the spread of protests.
Online videos show only brief, shaky glimpses of people walking on the street or the sound of gunshots. Journalists in Iran also generally face reporting restrictions, such as the need to obtain permission to travel across the country and the threat of harassment or arrest by authorities.
But the protests don’t seem to be stopping, even after Khamenei Saturday said “the thugs must be put in their place.”
Why did the protests start?
On December 28, after the Iranian rial fell to a record low of $1.42 million against the U.S. dollar, protests broke out in two major markets in central Tehran.
The collapse of the rial led to Economic crisis expands in Iran. Prices of meat, rice and other staples increased. The country has been battling an annual inflation rate of about 40%.
In December, Iran implemented new pricing tiers for its state-subsidized gasoline, raising the price of some of the world’s cheapest natural gas and further putting pressure on the population. Tehran may seek bigger price increases in the future as the government will now review prices every three months.
Meanwhile, food prices are expected to surge after Iran’s central bank ended its preferential, subsidized dollar-to-rial exchange rate for all products except medicines and wheat.
While the protests initially focused on economic issues, demonstrations soon featured protesters chanting anti-government rhetoric.
Anger has been brewing for years, especially after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Amini died in hospital after being arrested by the so-called “moral police” for allegedly failing to wear a hijab in compliance with local regulations.
Nationwide internet blackout: ‘Digital censorship continues to escalate’
Iran reported a nationwide internet outage on Thursday, according to internet monitoring group Netblocks. Iranians abroad say they are unable to contact their families because of the restrictions.
A statement from the organization read: “Real-time data shows that Iran is currently in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout; the incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures in response to protests across the country and hinders the public’s right to communicate at a critical moment.”
The power outage lasted more than 24 hours Friday night. National connectivity dropped to about 1% of normal levels, and information about the protests dried up. Iran’s military continues to warn civilians not to take part in protests, and human rights groups continue to release the latest casualty figures.
Ayatollah Khamenei responds to political unrest
In his first speech since Friday’s unrest, Khamenei insisted the Islamic Republic would not “compromise”.
“The Islamic Republic will not tolerate mercenaries working for foreign powers,” he continued. “To President Trump: Focus on your country’s problems.
“Everyone should know that the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people and it will not back down from spoilers.”
Regarding the protests, the government acknowledged there were demonstrations but warned that those who took part would be considered “enemies of God” – punishable by death.
In a statement broadcast on state television on Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – an elite force that has suppressed previous rounds of unrest – accused “terrorists” of targeting military and law enforcement bases. Several citizens and security personnel were allegedly killed and public and private properties were set on fire.
What does this mean for Iran’s allies?
Iran’s “axis of resistance”, which grew in importance in the years following the 2003 US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, is now shaky.
Israel Already crushed Hamas in the devastating war in Gaza. Lebanon’s Shiite armed group Hezbollah has been struggling since its top leadership was killed by Israel.
A lightning offensive in December 2024 toppled President Bashar Assad, Iran’s long-time staunch ally and client in Syria, where the country had endured years of war. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also been hit by Israeli and U.S. air strikes.
Meanwhile, China remains a major buyer of Iranian crude but has provided no overt military support. Neither does Russia, which relies on Iranian drones in its war against Ukraine.
What does this mean for Iran’s nuclear capabilities?
For decades, Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials have increasingly threatened to develop nuclear weapons.
Before the U.S. attack in June, Iran had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels, making it the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program.
Tehran has also increasingly cut back on cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in recent years as tensions over its nuclear program have grown. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Iran could build up to 10 nuclear bombs if it decides to weaponize its program.
U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran has not yet begun a weapons program but has “already conducted activities that would better position it to produce a nuclear device if it chose to do so.”
Iran recently said it would no longer enrich uranium anywhere in the country, seeking to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. But no significant negotiations had taken place in the months since the June War.
Are Trump, the United States and Israel involved?
Iranian authorities blame the unrest on American and Israeli “terrorists”. Ayatollah calls protesters “vandals” and says they are “ruining their streets” [to] To make the president of another country happy”.
us president Donald Trump Warning: If Tehran “violently kills peaceful people” Protesters” The United States “will save them,” a threat that has taken on new resonance after the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a long-time ally of Tehran.
On Saturday, he went a step further, posting on social media that the United States “stands ready to help” Iranians protesting.
new york times and wall street journalLate Saturday, citing anonymous U.S. officials, Trump had been given the option to launch an attack on the United States. Iranbut no final decision has been made.
On Sunday, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned that US troops and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if the United States attacked the Islamic Republic.
“If Iran is attacked, the occupied territories and all U.S. military centers, bases and ships in the region will become our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said.
“We do not view ourselves as limited to reacting after an action occurs and will act based on any objective indication of a threat.”
Decades ago, Iran was one of America’s top allies in the Middle East under King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased U.S. military weapons and allowed CIA technicians to set up secret listening posts to spy on the neighboring Soviet Union.
In 1953, the CIA instigated a coup that consolidated the Shah’s rule. But in January 1979, as mass demonstrations against his rule grew, the Shah fled Iran. Subsequently, the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini created Iran’s theocratic government.
Later that year, college students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran seeking the king’s extradition, triggering a 444-day hostage crisis that led to Iran severing diplomatic relations with the United States.
During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the United States supported Saddam Hussein. In that conflict, as part of the so-called “tanker wars,” the United States launched a day-long naval assault that pummeled Iran at sea and later shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that the U.S. military said it mistook for a warplane.
In the years since, Iran and the United States have vacillated between hostility and reluctant diplomacy. Relations between the two countries were at their peak following the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran significantly curb its programs in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
But Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, sparking tensions in the Middle East that have since intensified. On October 7, Hamas launched an attack.
