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‘WE WANT THE MULLAHS GONE’: ECONOMIC CRISIS SPARKS BIGGEST
PROTESTS IN IRAN SINCE 2022  
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Deepa Parent and William Christou
December 31, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Demonstrations against deteriorating living conditions have widened
to include criticism of how Iran is governed _

View image in fullscreen Students have paralysed university campuses,
traders have shut down their stores and demonstrators have blocked off
streets., Photograph: EPA

 

Alborz, a textile merchant in the central Iranian city of Isfahan,
decided he could no longer sit on the sidelines. He closed his shop
and took to the streets, joining merchants across Iran
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and students who took over their campuses to protest against declining
economic conditions.

The sudden loss of purchasing power pushed Alborz and tens of
thousands of other Iranians into the streets
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where protests are now entering their fourth day. Students have
paralysed university campuses, traders have shut down their stores and
demonstrators have blocked off streets in defiance of police. Protests
have spread from the capital, Tehran, to cities across Iran.

Despite the risk of being jailed for his political activism, the
father of four had run out of options. On Sunday, the national
currency plunged to a historic low, putting further pressure on
Alborz, who was already struggling to provide for his family.

“What will my children eat? Do we have to bring suitcases of cash to
simply buy bread? Do you find that normal?” Alborz told the Guardian
over the phone, speaking under a pseudonym for fear of security
reprisals.

The unprecedented depreciation of the national currency on Sunday –
when the Iranian rial dropped to 1.42m to the US dollar, a more than
56% decrease in value in six months – was a breaking point for an
already struggling economy and population. The plunging currency has
caused soaring inflation, with food prices up by 72% on average
compared with the same time last year.

 

Iran is also under some of the world’s most intense sanctions, which
have spurred inflation as the country struggles to access frozen funds
abroad and foreign exchange, something exacerbated by its growing
reliance on imports.

[A currency exchange office in Tehran]
A currency exchange office in Tehran. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty

The protests are the largest in Iran since 2022, when Iranians erupted
in anger at the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini
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who died in police custody after being arrested for not wearing her
hijab properly. Those protests were violently quashed and ultimately
simmered out.

Social media in Iran has been filled with videos of protesters
chanting anti-government slogans and throwing stones at security
forces. In one video from Tehran, a lone man sits blocking the way of
security services on motorbikes as crowds of protesters flee from
teargas.

 

Though the protests started as demonstrations against deteriorating
living conditions, they have widened to express grievances at the way
Iran is being governed. Women’s rights activists, shopkeepers and
students have begun chanting “death to the dictator” and “woman,
life, freedom” – slogans that could put people in prison.

Alborz said: “For years now, we have slowly but surely made
significant changes to our lifestyles because of this corrupt
government. This was the last nail in the coffin. We wanted this
regime gone and now there’s no way this regime will continue.”

The government, still shaken from a brutal 12-day war with Israel in
June which rocked the foundations of the Iranian regime, has called
for dialogue with protest leaders. Iran’s president, Masoud
Pezeshkian, said the government should listen to the “legitimate
demands” of protesters.

But they are wary of the offer, believing it to be an attempt to
co-opt their demands and kill the momentum of the rare protest
movement.

“You must be naive to think Iranians trust this government or the
regime,” said Farhad, a 19-year-old university student active in the
protest movement who spoke under a pseudonym.

He and other students described how security services had confiscated
student IDs and beaten and arrested some protesters. A protester in
Tehran sent the Guardian a picture of a metal pellet, which they said
was shot at them by security forces. The Guardian could not
independently verify the claim of the protester.

 

“If the administration wanted to talk, they wouldn’t fire teargas,
shoot at protesters and if dialogue is what they wanted, they would
not have executed protesters in 2023. There is no willingness from any
of us to talk to them, we want the mullahs gone and we want
democracy,” Farhad added.

As the Iranian government dealt with protests at home, it was also
facing threats from abroad.

On Monday, the US president, Donald Trump
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idea of striking Iran again, suggesting there could be renewed nuclear
activity in Iran – telling reporters if there was, “we’ll knock
them down”. Iran has rejected claims it is enriching uranium and has
said its nuclear programme is peaceful.

On Monday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a
statement it would confront any “sedition, unrest” or security
threats.

The IRGC said: “Enemies are seeking to sow the seeds of sedition
within Iranian society through cognitive warfare, psychological
operations, falsified narratives, fear-mongering and encouragement of
capitulation to them.”

Despite intimidation from authorities, protesters said they were not
cowed. They expected trade unions to soon join the merchants in
striking.

“Yesterday, we blocked roads and stopped the security forces from
advancing. People sat on the roads and chanted that they could kill
us, but we wouldn’t let them pass. We are not going to open shops
until the regime weakens further,” said Alborz.

_Deepa Parent is an independent journalist based in Paris who covers
conflict and its consequences on human rights.  William Christou is a
Beirut-based journalist, focusing on human rights investigations and
migration issues._

* Iran
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* Economic Crisis
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* protests
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