Credit: X / @abdolah_abdi
Mass protests broke out across Iran calling for the “death of the dictator” due to the regime’s economic crisis.
Tear gas was used to disperse protesters as shops shuttered in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and main markets.
University students called their friends to join the demonstrations, while chants rang out from rooftops in several cities and the Iranian rial fell to record levels, all against the backdrop of continued threats from Israel and the United States.
Residents in one town near Tehran told The Telegraph that a heavy presence of armed security forces mounted on motorbikes was visible around midnight.
On Monday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Tehran while residents in Malard, 28 miles east of the capital, were confronted by armed security mounted on motorbikes.
In several cities, people went to their rooftops and chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and Ali Khamenei, its supreme leader.
The protests were cheered by Israel, whose foreign ministry hoping for the overthrow of Mr Khamenei welcomed the action with “open arms”.
Credit: X / @mamadporii @Vahid
Donald Trump also threatened military action on Monday if Iran rebuilds its nuclear or missile programs, warning he will “beat the hell out of them”.
In several universities, students encouraged their peers to join the demonstrations after protests broke out in the Tehran University dormitory complex.
Security forces surrounded the dormitory on Monday evening and locked its doors with a heavy security presence around the campus.
Students living in the complex chanted slogans including “Woman, life, freedom”, “Students die but do not accept humiliation” and “Be afraid, be afraid, we are all together”.
One student inside the dormitory said: “They have closed the gates, and special forces on motorbikes are going around us. We are determined – some of us may be arrested, things may get worse – but we will not back down.”
Iranian universities have long been a center of political activism, with students playing leading roles in protests for decades.
Ahmadreza, a university student in Malard, told The Telegraph: “They are [the protesters] they have closed roads in several districts, and cannons are coming from every direction. People are also singing from their rooftops.
“It is almost impossible to move from one part of the city to another. There are police cars with cages. People are angry and exhausted as the prices rise day by day.”
People chanted slogans against Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei – HO/AFP/Getty
The protests began on Sunday afternoon after mobile phone and electronics sellers in Tehran closed their shops as the rial currency fell to a record low of 1.42 million to the dollar.
Riot police in full riot gear confronted hundreds of protesters near Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and in the Saadi Street area on Monday afternoon.
Traders closed their shops and urged others to join the shutdown. Security forces maintained a strong presence in various locations around the capital.
The currency recovered slightly to 1.38 million on Monday night after the governor of the Islamic Republic’s central bank resigned but continued to fall about 40 percent since June.
Iran’s currency collapse is fueling severe inflation. The state statistics center reported that inflation reached 42.2 percent in December, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from November.
Food prices increased by 72 percent, and health and medical goods increased by 50 percent compared to the same period last year.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he wanted to “solve the problems of the people and the needy” – Wana/Reuters
Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, said on Sunday in the parliament: “I have no motivation to remain in the government or to remain president if I cannot solve the problems of the people and the people in need.
“This is not something I want to be proud of. We cannot govern while people have problems… they say salaries are low, so they are low, they say you are taking too much in taxes, so we are taking too much tax.
“On the other hand, they say increase the salaries. Can someone tell me where I should get the money to give?”
Mr Pezeshkian addressed the protests directly on Monday night after the demonstrations broke out, saying he would listen to the protesters’ demands.
He said: “We have fundamental measures on the agenda to reform the monetary and banking system and preserve the purchasing power of the people.
“I have tasked the Minister of the Interior to listen to the just demands of the protesters through a dialogue with their representatives, so that the government can act with full effort to solve the problems and respond in a responsible manner.”
The rial was trading at 32,000 to the dollar in 2015 when Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers that lifted international sanctions.
That agreement collapsed after Mr Trump withdrew the US from it in 2018.
Collapse of the deal
The deal collapsed completely in October followed by the reimposition of UN sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal.
Iran last experienced nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Hundreds of people were killed, more than 20,000 arrested, and several executed in connection with those demonstrations.
State media acknowledged Monday’s protests but said shopkeepers were only concerned about economic conditions.
State media reporters on the main 20:30 news program sought to portray the protests as economic rather than anti-regime, showing scenes of normality in the streets and interviewing residents.
One resident said: “Please end this – end this. The dollar price is nonsense.”
Another shop said: “If we sell something today, we cannot buy it again tomorrow at the same price. The government should think about the situation.”
The government’s IRNA news agency reported that cell phone vendors were reacting to business threats from the currency’s depreciation.
Iran also raised petrol prices this month, prompting warnings from lawmakers about a potential repeat of violent fuel protests in 2019 that killed hundreds in what was then the deadliest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Mostafa Tajzadeh, the imprisoned Iranian politician and prominent dissident, said: “Now is the time for all those who want a prosperous, free and independent Iran to speak with one voice and call for the separation of religious institutions from political institutions, for the clergy to give power back to the people, and to return to their traditional base in the seminaries.
“The safest and most reliable way out of crises is to convene a constituent assembly and amend the constitution in accordance with the will of the nation.”
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