Deadly clashes between protesters and security forces intensified across Iran over the weekend, as demonstrations initially triggered by rising living costs entered a second week and spread to much of the country, according to rights groups, official statements, and local media.
At least 12 people—including members of the security forces—have been killed since the protests began with a shopkeepers’ strike in Tehran on December 28, based on official reports and tallies by monitoring groups. Overnight demonstrations featuring chants critical of the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership were reported in Tehran, the southern city of Shiraz, and several western areas where unrest has been most concentrated, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.
The unrest is the most significant Iran has seen since the 2022–2023 protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by morality police for allegedly violating strict dress rules. While the current protests have not reached the scale of that nationwide uprising—or the mass demonstrations that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election—they present a fresh challenge to Iran’s leadership at a sensitive moment.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, has ruled since 1989 and now faces renewed public anger just months after a 12-day war with Israel in June that damaged nuclear infrastructure and killed senior security figures. The demonstrations have been especially pronounced in western provinces with large Kurdish and Lor populations, regions that have long complained of economic marginalization and heavy-handed security responses.
With the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian under pressure to ease economic hardship, officials announced limited relief. Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on state television on Sunday that citizens would receive a monthly allowance equivalent to about $7 for the next four months, a move aimed at cushioning the impact of inflation and stagnant wages. Critics, however, say the measure falls far short of addressing deep structural problems.
According to an AFP tally based on official announcements and media reports, protests have occurred in 23 of Iran’s 31 provinces and affected at least 40 cities—mostly small and mid-sized urban centers—underscoring the breadth of discontent beyond the capital.
Deadly clashes in the west
Rights groups reported some of the deadliest violence in the western province of Ilam. The Norway-based Hengaw organization said members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps opened fire on protesters in Malekshahi county on Saturday, killing four people from Iran’s Kurdish minority and wounding dozens more. Hengaw also accused authorities of raiding the main hospital in Ilam city to seize the bodies of those killed.
The Iran Human Rights NGO, also based in Norway, reported the same death toll and said at least 30 people were wounded when “security forces attacked the protests” in Malekshahi. Funerals for the dead were held on Sunday, with mourners chanting slogans against the government and the supreme leader, the group said. Both organizations posted videos—verified by AFP—showing what appeared to be bloodied bodies on the ground.
Iranian state-aligned media offered a different account, reporting that a member of the security forces was killed during clashes with what they described as “rioters” attempting to storm a police facility, and that two attackers were also killed.
Security presence in Tehran
In the capital, sporadic protests were reported Saturday night in eastern, western, and southern districts, according to the Fars news agency. On Sunday, most shops were open, but streets appeared quieter than usual as riot police and security forces deployed at major intersections. Images verified by AFP showed security forces using tear gas to disperse a daytime gathering of protesters in central Tehran.
HRANA said at least 582 people have been arrested nationwide over the past week. Hengaw reported that nearly all of those killed belonged to ethnic minorities, particularly Kurds and Lors, a claim that has heightened concern among rights advocates about disproportionate use of force in peripheral regions.
International reactions
The unrest has drawn sharp reactions abroad. U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Friday that Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iranian authorities killed protesters, remarks he made in public comments in the United States a day before an American operation to capture Iran’s ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in Jerusalem that Israel stood in “solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people,” adding that it was possible they were “taking their destiny into their own hands.”
Expressions of support also surfaced in Europe. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in two separate rallies in Paris on Sunday, while similar protests were held in London a day earlier, according to AFP correspondents, reflecting growing international attention to Iran’s latest wave of unrest.
As Iran’s leadership weighs security measures against limited economic concessions, the persistence and geographic spread of the protests suggest that public anger over livelihoods, governance, and minority rights is far from spent.
