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Artist: Behnam Mohammadi
Fear Changes Sides
By Thursday, January 1, protests that erupted on Sunday, December 28, had spread to more than 72 cities across Iran, stitching together a geography of dissent that runs from the Zagros Mountains in the west through Tehran and central Iran, across the Caspian north, into Khorasan in the northeast, and down to the southern coast of Hormozgan. The strikes and shuttered bazaars have struck the regime where it is most vulnerable: its economic nervous system.
What began as an outcry over livelihoods has hardened into something far more consequential. Demonstrations are animated by rage at state incompetence, suffocating repression, deep public resentment, and a conviction that the system itself must go. A recent survey by a state-affiliated polling agency found dissatisfaction with the country’s direction at roughly 92 percent, a figure that indicts more than informs.
In response to this unrest, the state has acted as it always does: arrests, bullets by direct gunfire. Human rights groups report at least 10 deaths, dozens of injuries, and more than 100 arrests in the first five days alone. Among the dead is a 15-year-old child.
Meanwhile, projecting an image of control, Tehran insists it faces nothing more than “riots.” But when bazaars closed, its myth of normalcy collapsed, and fear changed sides.
The Iranian people advance unarmed. The clerical state, armed to the teeth, shelters behind plastic shields and live bullets. In that contrast lies the story of a regime losing its claim to authority, and a society discovering its own.
Welcome to the Kayhan Life Week in Review
All eyes are on Iran as economic collapse, fractures within the ruling establishment, and the risk of regional war are converging with the most politically explicit protests the country has seen in years. From bazaars to universities, from satellite launches with Moscow to mass student emigration, this week’s developments reveal a society under immense strain, and a regime facing challenges on multiple fronts at once.
►What began as an economic protest has transformed into something far more consequential. As demonstrators chant monarchist slogans and invoke Reza Pahlavi, the protests signal a striking shift from reformist demands toward an outright challenge to the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy.
►The unrest marks the most serious internal challenge to the authorities in three years and shows no sign of abating, despite reports of multiple deaths across Iran.
►A quiet but profound brain drain is accelerating. With student emigration nearly doubling since 2020, the data reveal a generation voting with its feet—and losing faith in Iran’s economic and political future.
►University students have joined bazaar merchants, pensioners, and workers, turning the demonstrations into a nationwide rejection of economic mismanagement and political repression.
►Tehran is meanwhile looking skyward. Russia’s launch of three Iranian satellites underscores a deepening strategic partnership that alarms Washington and highlights how Iran is leveraging global alliances to offset isolation and sanctions.
►U.S. rhetoric is escalating alongside Iran’s internal crisis. After warning Tehran against using force on protesters, Donald Trump signaled readiness for confrontation—raising fears that domestic unrest could trigger international escalation.
►Iran also mourned the passing of Bahram Beyzaie, a trailblazer of modern Iranian cinema. He leaves behind a legacy that shaped modern storytelling far beyond Iran’s borders.
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