Across all thirty-one provinces of Iran, a people who once measured their hopes in the price of bread and fuel now measure them in the falling value of the rial, a currency that has lost so much ground that a dollar buys more than 1.4 million of it. Economic despair, long gathering and sharpened by inflation near forty percent, has pushed merchants and ordinary citizens into the streets, and the state has answered by severing much of the connection between its people and the outside world. The death and arrest figures now circulating, from a rights group with a record of accuracy, remain uncon
Iran Protests Spread to All 31 Provinces as Economic Collapse Meets Internet Blackout
At least 646 people reportedly killed and more than 10,700 arrested, according to HRANA, which the government has not confirmed.
The blackout is a large part of why the scale is so hard to judge
Across all thirty-one provinces of Iran, a people who once measured their hopes in the price of bread and fuel now measure them in the falling value of the rial, a currency that has lost so much ground that a dollar buys more than 1.4 million of it. Economic despair, long gathering and sharpened by inflation near forty percent, has pushed merchants and ordinary citizens into the streets, and the state has answered by severing much of the connection between its people and the outside world. The death and arrest figures now circulating, from a rights group with a record of accuracy, remain unconfirmed, so the full human cost hangs in a silence that the government has chosen to keep. It is a moment that echoes older Iranian convulsions, where hunger and humiliation have a way of becoming demands for dignity and political change.
On Tuesday, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based group with a network of activists inside Iran and a track record of accuracy in past unrest, reported more than 600 protests across all 31 provinces. It put the dead at no fewer than 646 and the arrested at more than 10,700. Tehran has released no casualty figures, and with the internet cut and international calls blocked, no outside body can check the count.
The spark was economic. The rial now trades above 1.4 million to the dollar, and annual inflation hovers near 40 percent. Meat, rice and other staples have grown dearer. In December Iran introduced a new pricing tier for its famously cheap subsidized gasoline, with reviews every three months to follow, and the Central Bank recently ended preferential exchange rates for most goods except medicine and wheat. The protests began with merchants in Tehran in late December, but soon the chants turned political, with some crowds calling for the exiled Reza Pahlavi.
Behind the street anger lies a state weakened abroad. Iran is still recovering from a twelve-day war with Israel in June, during which the United States struck nuclear sites, and UN sanctions returned in September. Its regional network has frayed, with Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad and the Houthis all badly hit. President Trump has warned that Washington will respond if peaceful protesters are killed. What to watch now is whether the blackout holds, whether prices keep climbing, and whether that warning becomes action.
On Tuesday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that more than 600 protests had taken place across all 31 of Iran's provinces, and that at least 646 people had been killed and more than 10,700 arrested. The group draws on a network of activists inside Iran and has been accurate in earlier episodes of unrest. Iran's government has released no overall casualty figures, and the Associated Press has not been able to check the toll independently, because the authorities have cut internet access and blocked international phone calls.
The blackout is a large part of why the scale of the unrest is so hard to judge. Iranian state media has offered little about the demonstrations. What reaches the outside world is mostly online video: short, shaky clips of people in the streets, or the sound of gunfire. Journalists inside Iran also need permission to travel around the country and risk harassment or arrest. Even so, the protests do not appear to be fading, despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying that rioters must be put in their place.
The cause is economic. The rial has collapsed, now trading at more than 1.4 million to the dollar, and annual inflation is around 40 percent. Prices have climbed for meat, rice and other staples of the Iranian dinner table. In December, Iran introduced a new pricing tier for its subsidized gasoline, among the cheapest in the world, and the government will now review fuel prices every three months, so steeper increases may follow. In recent days the Central Bank also ended the preferential, subsidized dollar-rial exchange rate for all goods except medicine and wheat, and food prices are expected to spike as a result.
The protests began in late December with merchants in Tehran and then spread. They started over money, but protesters soon added anti-government chants. Some have called out in support of Reza Pahlavi, Iran's exiled crown prince, who has urged people to protest. The anger has been building for years, notably since the 2022 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which set off nationwide demonstrations.
The government is also weaker abroad. Tehran is still recovering from a 12-day war launched by Israel in June, during which the United States bombed nuclear sites in Iran. Economic pressure has risen since September, when the United Nations reimposed sanctions over the nuclear program. Iran's self-described Axis of Resistance has been badly damaged since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023: Israel has crushed Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah has lost its top leadership, Syria's Bashar Assad was overthrown in a December 2024 offensive, and the Houthis in Yemen have been hit by Israeli and U.S. airstrikes. China still buys Iranian crude but has given no overt military support, and neither has Russia, which uses Iranian drones in Ukraine.
The nuclear question sits in the background. Before the June attack, Iran was enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels, the only country without a weapons program to do so. It has cut back cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose director-general has warned Iran could build as many as 10 bombs if it chose to. U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran has not begun a weapons program but has undertaken activities that would better position it to build a device. Iran recently said it is no longer enriching uranium at any site, a signal of openness to talks on easing sanctions, though no significant negotiations have occurred since June.
President Donald Trump has warned that if Tehran violently kills peaceful protesters, the U.S. will come to their rescue. He said Washington is watching very closely and that if Iran starts killing people as it has before, it will be hit very hard. The threat carries new weight after American troops captured Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, a longtime Tehran ally.
The long U.S.-Iran antagonism frames all of this: the 1953 CIA-fomented coup, the 1979 revolution, the 444-day hostage crisis, the 2015 nuclear deal and Trump's 2018 withdrawal from it. What to watch now is whether the blackout holds, whether the fuel and food price rises continue, and whether Trump acts on his warning.
Notable Quotes
Rioters must be put in their place.— Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States.— President Donald Trump
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