Nearly two weeks ago, on Dec. 28, Iranians launched a new wave of anti-regime protest that has yet to subside. Unlike previous generations of protestors, those taking to the streets today are not calling for reform or incremental change. Even though it is hard to assess public opinion from outside the country, it is clear that many demonstrators are calling for a radical transformation of the current system. Most seem to want one thing: the end of the Islamic Republic.
Using the Telegram messaging app, I managed to establish contact with Iraj, a 38-year-old man who sent me multiple audio and video messages showing security forces firing stun grenades at demonstrators, launching countless canisters of tear gas, and attacking protestors with pellet guns. Yet people are refusing to leave the streets. Struggling for breath after exposure to the gas, Iraj told me: “I was on the streets during the protests of 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022, and I am certain that this time is different. This time, people have nothing left to lose, and they want this humiliation to end.”
The current wave of unrest began with a protest by shop owners in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, who publicly expressed their frustration with the dismal state of the economy. On Sept. 28, the United Nations officially reimposed sanctions on Iran, after leading European nations accused the leaders of the Islamic Republic of continuing a covert nuclear program. The resumption of sanctions, combined with the government’s longer-term mismanagement of the economy, prompted a collapse in the value of the currency, the rial, which has since reached historic lows. Medicines and basic foodstuffs have become unaffordable for many Iranians as a result, and power outages and industrial shutdowns have become commonplace.
Back in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, bazaar merchants played a crucial role in opposition to the Shah’s regime, and in the decades since they have largely supported the Islamic Republic. But now, Alireza – who owns four shops in the Delgosha Passage in the bazaar – told me that he and his colleagues are breaking with the regime. “We are not like our fathers or previous generations who sought to support the Islamic Republic or compromise with it,” he said. “Our message is clear: we want to return to periods of economic stability, and the Islamic Republic is incapable of delivering that.”
The protests have since spread to more than 100 cities around the country, reaching almost all of its 31 provinces. “Separating these protests into ‘political’ or ‘economic’ is somewhat misleading,” said Bardia, another protestor who got in touch with me via Telegram. “What is clear is that almost everyone believes the political structure of the Islamic Republic has produced economic corruption.” He said that Iranians see fundamental political change as a way “to free themselves from clerical dictatorship.”
There is yet another striking way in which the current uprising contrasts with its predecessors. Many of the demonstrators are publicly aligning themselves with exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was deposed in the 1979 revolution. The 65-year-old Prince Pahlavi, who today lives in the Washington DC area, issued a formal public statement to the Iranian public, his first in nearly fifty years, only days after the protests began. He called on protestors to continue the struggle against the regime. Many appear to have taken his urgings to heart. “The reason is that people still remember the Pahlavi era,” Bardia explains. “A respectful and healthy relationship with the West. Economic prosperity. Global respect.” He says people long to return to that period.
On Jan. 8, many appear to have followed the prince’s call to chant protest slogans at 8 PM. Although his message emphasized that people could participate “even from their windows or wherever they are able,” Iranian social media offered signs that many had decided to take to the streets. Messaging platforms filled with farewell messages. Many of those who went out were fully aware that they could be shot by Islamic Republic forces, suffer permanent injuries, or face violent arrest. I have received numerous farewell notes and wills in which their authors wrote that they were “ready to die for freedom and for Iran.”
The Trump Administration’s move to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has proved galvanizing for many of the Iranian protestors. The operation to snatch Maduro came just hours after Trump first shared a message on his Truth Social account expressing support for the Iranian people and warning the government against a crackdown.
Even though the likelihood of an American raid in Tehran is minimal, that hasn’t stopped many from seeing Trump as a potential ally – a belief amplified by several other remarks made by the U.S. president about Iran. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump said: “I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots…. We’re going to hit them very hard.” At the same time, though, Trump notably declined to meet with Pahlavi, saying he wasn’t sure that would be “appropriate.”
Tahmineh, a young university student in her final year of studies in Tehran, sent me a long voice message via WhatsApp in which she explained her hopes for Trump. “A lot of Iranians believe Trump could help free the country from the Islamic dictatorship. We have tried peaceful protests many times before, and we no longer believe we can defeat the Islamic Republic on our own, empty-handed. They have weapons and oil. All we have are slogans.”
As I write this report, internet access in Iran has been completely cut off, and mobile phone lines are facing severe disruptions. I’ve been unable to establish any form of telephone contact with Iran, including mobile or landline connections – in dramatic contrast to the early days of the protests, when activists still managed to transmit a large number of images showing sizable crowds of protesters across many locations.
It’s a familiar and ominous pattern. In the past, similar Internet shutdowns have presaged large-scale crackdowns on protests, often ending with heavy loss of life. (At the time of this writing, at least 34 protestors have already been killed.) The demonstrators themselves, though, continue to hope that the current confrontation will lead to a more positive end. Let’s hope they’re right.
Mahtab Gholizadeh
Mahtab Gholizadeh is an Iranian journalist in exile currently working for Iran International and various western publications. She was arrested by the Iranian government in 2021.
