Iran has confronted intense nationwide protests for almost two weeks, marking the most important problem to the nation’s ruling regime in years — and drawing vows from President Trump to intervene on the protesters’ behalf in the event that they face a violent crackdown.
Initially sparked by Iran‘s financial freefall and extreme inflation, the protests have boiled over, with about 180 cities going through demonstrations. One monitoring group has reported hundreds of arrests and dozens of deaths for the reason that protests started.
This is what you might want to know:
How the Iran protests began, and what they’ve change into
The present wave of protests started within the capital, Tehran, in late December as shopkeepers went on strike and marched into the streets. Small enterprise house owners in Iran have lengthy been seen as supportive of the regime, however anger over spiraling inflation and the devaluation of the nation’s foreign money, which misplaced greater than 40% of its worth final yr, making on a regular basis items unattainable for many individuals to afford, sparked the demonstrations.
The protests rapidly unfold, with individuals becoming a member of marches throughout the nation to denounce not solely the financial woes, however to air wider discontent with the nation’s hardline regime.
Kamran/Center East Photos/AFP through Getty
As of Friday, protests have been reported in not less than 180 cities in all 31 of the nation’s provinces, in line with the Human Rights Activists Information Company, or HRANA, a U.S.-based monitoring group based by anti-regime activists.
Demonstrations have additionally been reported on dozens of college campuses since late December, and strikes and store closures have been reported in markets in over a dozen cities, HRANA mentioned.
Movies posted on social media nearly each night time have proven crowds of protesters marching via the streets of varied Iranian cities, chanting anti-government slogans and clashing with the nation’s safety forces in some circumstances.
How Iranian authorities have responded
Greater than 2,300 individuals have been reported detained for the reason that wave of protests started, together with not less than 167 below the age of 18, in line with HRANA. Some 65 individuals have been killed, the group mentioned, together with 50 protesters, not less than seven individuals below the age of 18 and 14 members of the safety providers.
The Islamic Republic’s semiofficial Fars information company claimed Monday that about 250 law enforcement officials and 45 members of the scary Basij safety power had been injured amid the unrest.
Iranian authorities minimize off cellphone service and internet entry Thursday night time throughout the nation, in line with the web monitoring group NetBlocks, which mentioned a “nationwide web blackout” continued on Friday.
“Even Starlink, which has been the primary line of communication for some activists in several elements of the nation, has been jammed,” Maziar Bahari, editor of the impartial IranWire information website, instructed CBS Information on Friday, referring to the satellite tv for pc communication system run by Elon Musk.
CBS Information has sought remark from SpaceX, which runs Starlink, however didn’t get any instant response.
Trump warns he’ll hit Iran “very laborious” if it kills protesters
Mr. Trump has threatened on a number of events for the reason that protests started that he might order a U.S. intervention if Iranian authorities kill demonstrators.
Talking on the White Home on Jan. 9, Mr. Trump reiterated that he was open to some type of U.S. motion, though he mentioned that may not contain a U.S. incursion.
“I’ve made the assertion very strongly that if they begin killing individuals like they’ve previously, we’ll become involved,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “We’ll be hitting them very laborious the place it hurts. And that does not imply boots on the bottom, but it surely means hitting them very, very laborious the place it hurts. So, we do not need that to occur.”
In a Jan. 2 submit on Fact Social, he mentioned: “If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceable protesters, which is their customized, america of America will come to their rescue.”
“We’re locked and loaded and able to go,” the president mentioned.
Talking on Fox Information on Jan. 8, Mr. Trump mentioned the U.S. was “prepared” to hit Iran laborious if protesters have been killed, however added, “for probably the most half, they have not” been.
The president’s feedback got here simply over six months after he ordered airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear services, amid a lethal days-long battle between Iran and Israel.
The unrest in Iran additionally comes as Mr. Trump takes a extra aggressive posture on the world stage.
U.S. forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an in a single day army operation in Caracas on Jan. 3, and Mr. Trump has instructed he is open to army motion in Colombia to fight drug trafficking, and even to take management of Greenland.
Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow on the Center East Institute who research Iran, instructed CBS Information final week that Mr. Trump’s gestures of help might embolden Iranian protesters, saying his feedback could be the “one ingredient you might want to maintain … the street-level motion alive.”
Bahari, of IranWire, mentioned Iranian officers had instructed him they have been involved about Mr. Trump doubtlessly intervening in Iran even earlier than the protests started.
The latest U.S. assault on Venezuela, “has actually scared many Iranian officers and should have affected their actions when it comes to how you can confront the protesters. However on the identical time, it has impressed many protesters to return out, as a result of they know that the chief of the world’s principal superpower is supporting their trigger.”
Iranian leaders acknowledge issues, however blame U.S.
In an handle on state tv aired Friday, after an intense night time of protests, Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that his regime would “not again down,” referred to as for unity and accused “a bunch of vandals” in Tehran of inflicting chaos within the capital “to please the U.S. president.”
In some circumstances, Iranian officers have tried to strike a conciliatory tone, acknowledging individuals’s financial issues and insisting that individuals have the proper to protest peacefully. State media reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian had directed safety forces to not crack down on peaceable protesters.
The federal government has additionally supplied some aid within the type of $7-a-month stipends that can be utilized in grocery shops to purchase primary requirements.
Iran’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs has condemned Mr. Trump threats of a U.S. intervention, accusing the U.S. of “inciting violence and terrorism.”
Iranian military commander Main Common Amir Hatami threatened Wednesday to “minimize off the hand of any aggressor.”
Iran’s historical past of mass protests
Protests — and extreme crackdowns — are a recurring theme in Iran.
The final main spherical of protests got here in 2022, spurred by the dying in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the theocratic authorities’s forces for allegedly sporting her scarf incorrectly. A whole lot of individuals have been killed throughout months of demonstrations.
Different protest actions got here in 2019 and 2017, and Iran was beset by a large-scale rebellion in 2009 over the nation’s contested presidential election.
“From what we noticed on social media channels and likewise from conversations with totally different individuals in Iran, the variety of protesters in several elements of the nation shouldn’t be as excessive as in 2022, however there are extra protests — the protests are extra widespread in several elements of the nation,” Bahari instructed CBS Information. “So, even some smaller cities the place they by no means had a protest in these cities, they see protests nowadays, and I feel individuals are extra determined than earlier than.”
The present protests appear totally different in comparison with the earlier rounds — and may very well be tougher for the regime to quell by providing concessions — attributable to their roots within the nation’s financial woes, in line with Mona Yacoubian, Director and Senior Adviser of the Center East Program on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
She famous that in 2022, the regime was capable of appease protesters by “merely addressing their complaints about girls’s veiling and so forth.”
However the protesters now are extra centered on financial issues, and “there’s actually nothing [the regime] can do” to get Iran’s moribund economic system again on observe, she mentioned.
“These protests, they’re about financial scenario, but in addition about dignity,” Bahari instructed CBS Information. “It is in regards to the nationwide delight. And due to that, this protest might be very, very troublesome to include.”
Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi cheers on the protests
Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father the previous shah, fled simply earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution that introduced the present clerical regime to energy, has cheered the protests from exile, urging demonstrators this week to maintain the motion “disciplined” and “as giant as doable.”
JOEL SAGET/AFP through Getty Photos 
The crown prince referred to as for Iranians to chant collectively towards the nation’s management at 8 p.m. native time, or 12 p.m. Japanese, on Thursday and Friday, and lots of did appear to reply his name.
Pahlavi’s name to motion “may very well be a turning level” within the protest motion, Yacoubian instructed CBS Information on Thursday.
“This can be a regime that isn’t afraid to make use of deadly power,” Yacoubian mentioned. “However the query is, to what extent, in the event that they change into overwhelmed, if the protests change into overwhelmingly giant and if there are components in safety forces, police, and so forth, type of at that native degree, who themselves are struggling the results of this financial disaster and who determine to not shoot at individuals: These are the sorts of questions I feel that we have to watch.”
