DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s latest wave of protests spread nationwide as demonstrators rallied in all 31 provinces after unrest that began Dec. 28, challenging the ruling clerical system’s grip on power. Authorities responded with an internet blackout, mass arrests and warnings of harsh punishment as dissent swelled beyond Tehran’s Grand Bazaar into neighborhoods and provincial capitals, Jan. 10, 2026.
Iran protests spread to all 31 provinces
What began in Tehran with shopkeepers angered by a sharp fall in the rial has expanded into wider street demonstrations and nighttime rallies across the country, according to a Reuters report. Analysts described the Iran protests as a growing challenge not only to economic management but also to the political and ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The collapse is not just of the rial, but of trust,” Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute told Reuters, reflecting a view among regional observers that repeated crackdowns and limited concessions may be losing their ability to contain anger.
Internet blackout and disputed tolls
Internet access dropped sharply Thursday in Tehran and other parts of Iran, a Reuters report on the outage said, limiting communication as the demonstrations intensified. The Associated Press reported that international telephone lines were also cut, leaving outside observers reliant on short videos, activist accounts and limited state media footage.
Reported casualty and arrest figures vary, in part because the blackout has made verification difficult. In a day-by-day tally, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, known as HRANA, said it had recorded 42 deaths — including five minors — and more than 2,277 detentions during the first 12 days of the Iran protests, according to its Jan. 8 report. AP, citing HRANA, put the toll higher at at least 65 killed and more than 2,300 detained.
Why this is a legitimacy test for Khamenei
Iran’s leaders have weathered repeated protest cycles by tightening security and controlling information. But the breadth of the current Iran protests — reaching every province — is amplifying questions about how much coercion the state can sustain without alienating key constituencies, including bazaar merchants who historically have been a pillar of the Islamic Republic.
Economic pressure remains a central driver. The rial lost about half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topped 40% in December, Reuters reported, as it described how chants have increasingly shifted from bread-and-butter grievances to direct challenges to the country’s top leadership. Reuters also reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian urged authorities to take a “kind and responsible approach,” while Khamenei signaled tougher punishments and blamed foreign enemies for fomenting unrest.
Continuity with earlier unrest
The Iran protests echo earlier nationwide upheavals, including the 2022-23 demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody and the 2019 fuel-price protests. A Reuters explainer in 2023 detailed how the Amini protests reshaped public defiance even after the street movement ebbed. Amnesty International’s documentation of the 2019 crackdown recorded 321 deaths in its detailed casework update, while NetBlocks’ 2019 report described a near-total internet shutdown during that unrest — a tactic many Iranians say authorities are repeating now.
What comes next
With the opposition fragmented and much of Iran still largely offline, the immediate trajectory of the Iran protests may depend on whether strikes widen and whether security forces remain unified. For now, protesters and authorities appear locked in a familiar standoff — one that analysts say is testing the legitimacy of Khamenei’s rule more openly than in years.
