2026-01-02 17:05
publication
2026-01-02 17:05
Participants in the funeral of one of the participants of the Iranian protests in the city of Quhdasht threw stones at members of the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia from the ceremony, and the funeral of the person killed in Marvdasht turned into a demonstration, the Iran International website reported on Friday.
For the first time in five decades, pro-monarchist slogans dominated the protests, the website noted, adding that slogans against the theocracy that had ruled Iran since 1979 were also shouted, including “death to Khamenei” and “death to the dictator.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei serves as the supreme spiritual and political leader in Iran.
During the protests that have been ongoing since December 28 – the largest in three years – at least seven demonstrators have been killed so far. Both non-governmental centers and Tehran media also reported the arrests.
Reuters noted that although Iran has repeatedly suppressed protests with mass arrests in recent decades, the country's economic problems may now make it difficult for the authorities to regain control. At the beginning of the week, President Massoud Pezeshkian announced a dialogue with the leaders of the protests that began with a strike by shopkeepers who were hit hard by the collapse of the local currency. Pezeszkian admitted that the cause of the crisis was the authorities' negligence. – We are the ones to blame. Don't blame America or anyone else. We must serve well to make people happy with us (…). We must find solutions to these problems, he said.
Pezeshkian's government is trying to introduce an economic liberalization program, but the deregulation of some exchange rates has contributed to a sharp decline in the value of the Iranian rial.
The authorities are currently continuing the presidential narrative, separating the justified – as they emphasize – economic protests of the population from the “obvious conspiracy of enemies” who want to use society's ills to cause a political crisis. The leader of Friday prayers in Tehran, Haj Ali Akbari, stated that “those who did not achieve their goals during the 12-day war” (when Israel and the US fired on nuclear installations in Iran) openly declared support for social unrest. Meanwhile, Ali Shamkani, one of Ali Khamenei's advisers, announced that “the hand of the interventionist who threatens Iran's security will be cut off.”
On Friday morning, US President Donald Trump on his Truth Social social media platform threatened that the US would come to the aid of Iranian protesters if “the authorities in Tehran shoot and brutally kill demonstrators as they usually do.” Trump concluded by saying, “we are armed and ready for action.” Ali Larijani, an adviser to Khamenei, responded with a tweet arguing that “Americans should know that Trump is starting this adventure. They should watch out for their soldiers.”
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was more specific and threatened the American forces stationed in the Middle East. “Let the rude US president know that (…) all American centers and forces throughout the region will become our legitimate targets in response to any potential adventurous actions,” he wrote on the X website. (PAP)
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