A new wave of protests has unfolded in Iran in response to the country’s deepening economic crisis and the regime’s longstanding abuse and subjugation of the Iranian people.
It began in late 2025 with strikes and demonstrations around Tehran’s bazaar and commercial districts after the country’s currency, the rial, hit new lows and inflation surged. Despite grave risks to participants, protests rapidly spread to most Iranian provinces, including rural areas.
Over the last week and a half, more than 1,200 protesters have been arrested and dozens killed, according to human rights groups. Iranian security forces have indiscriminately targeted unarmed civilians, leading to the deaths of three children and an unconscionable attack on a hospital using tear gas and military-grade weapons.
As protests continue to escalate and the regime escalates a violent response, it’s vital for the United States and fellow democracies to stand with the people of Iran as they seek to shape their own future.
Why does it matter?
This round of protests may differ from others in the past because a series of decisive defeats has left the Iranian leadership seemingly vulnerable. Hezbollah and Hamas – terrorist organizations that serve as the regime’s regional proxies for projecting power – have been devastated over the past year. Meanwhile, successful U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership in June exposed the fecklessness of the regime’s defenses to external attack.
The Iranian regime’s grip on power has been increasingly challenged for years by citizens exhausted from economic woes and human rights abuses. It has also suffered significant military losses as the United States and Israel have responded to its support for terrorist groups and pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran is a major partner of China and Russia, a state sponsor of terrorism, and source of instability in the Middle East. Further destabilization could result in a major shift in domestic control and international alliances, putting Iran at a significant crossroads that could lead to broader reform or collapse.
Driven by economic stress, demands for dignity triggered by regime repression, and anger at unaccountable rule, Iran’s current unrest follows a familiar pattern regularly seen across the five decades since the declaration of the Islamic Republic. In the last 15 years alone, this has included the 2009 Green Movement triggered by questions on election legitimacy; the 2017–2018 protests focused on unemployment and corruption; the 2019 fuel-price uprising, compounded by a violent response by the regime; and the 2022–2023 Woman, Life, Freedom mobilization centered on women’s rights and regime brutality.
The throughlines are clear across all these events: deep resentment of repression and violence by security services and morality policing, perilously high unemployment, corruption, perceived elite privilege, and resource mismanagement by the regime, compounded with international pressure through sanctions and international political isolation.
The regime’s response also follows an established script: heavy security deployments, mass detentions, public executions, and narratives blaming “foreign-instigated” unrest. It also often includes selective economic promises, such as this week’s supposed commitment of monthly subsidies. It’s important to note that now, as in the past, the regime’s judiciary and security apparatus have dictated “no leniency” for protests.
The official U.S. response to the current protests has mixed vocal support with escalatory rhetoric, in contrast with the muted response to the 2009 Green Movement, when the United States remained largely silent. President Donald Trump publicly warned Iran not to kill peaceful protesters and said the United States was “locked and loaded,” including a claim the U.S. would “come to their rescue,” without specifying actions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and official State Department channels have amplified pro-protester messaging (including in Farsi), rightly framing the demands for basic rights as legitimate. Rubio has also emphasized that Washington’s central problem with Tehran is how it treats its own people.
Bottom line
As the international community watches the Iranian people’s latest calls for freedom and the regime’s increasingly draconian responses, it’s vital to ensure that the people of the country themselves are meaningfully centered in any discussion of response.
Global leaders and international institutions must listen to Iranians on Iran. Policy determinations and subsequent action must duly ensure the expressed demands of the Iranian people, including women whose rights have been suppressed for many years.
Reliable and accessible information flows are more important than ever. The United States and the global community – including technology leaders and media outlets – should be doing everything possible to expand trusted, Farsi-language access to independent news and anticensorship support, including outlets like Radio Farda, the U.S. government-owned Farsi service operated by Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty.
At the same time, journalists reporting on the situation in Iran and international leaders who may engage with Iranian authorities in the coming days shouldn’t agree to comply with the regime’s compulsory hijab law or other restrictive requirements if they don’t traditionally wear a head covering. Iranian women are bravely standing in defiance of morality laws and the Islamic Republic’s tyranny and corruption. Outside influencers’ capitulation to the regime’s egregious violations of personal freedoms would send an unintended and dangerous endorsement of their brutality.
As demonstrated throughout history, Washington can and should be the indispensable ingredient for messaging, sanctions, and contingency planning with allies, the international community, and key regional partners to increase legitimacy. Together, international leaders should call for protection of Iranians who are exercising their right to protest and support both in-country and diaspora democracy activists calling for protection of rights and an end to the brutal crackdown. International leaders should overtly suspend diplomatic engagements with the Iranian regime until the crackdown on activists ends.
