In Iran, against the backdrop of the collapse of the rial, people have been taking to the streets since late December. The protests have become the largest since 2022, DW reports.
In Iran, at least 35 people have died and more than 1200 demonstrators have been arrested during nine days of ongoing street protests. This was reported on Monday, December 5, by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), citing the human rights organization Human Rights Activists in Iran and its media network HRANA.
According to HRANA, the protests in Iran, which began in late December, have taken place in at least 88 cities, or in 27 out of 31 provinces of the country. At one point, Iranian security forces began to use force against demonstrators, especially at rallies in smaller towns, human rights advocates write.
Such actions provoked a new wave of protests in major cities, including Mashhad and the capital of Iran, Tehran. Students from at least 17 universities across the country joined the demonstrations. In response, according to student media, security forces began conducting raids on campus grounds. Overall, the protests that have started in the country have become the largest for Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by the "morality police" sparked public outrage.
Iran threatens not to show leniency to protesters
Among the 35 counted dead during the mass protests in Iran, 29 were protesters, four were children, and two were security personnel, human rights advocates report.
Earlier, Iranian state media reported at least one such possible case: a 21-year-old member of the paramilitary Basij force, which is subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed during a demonstration in the city of Kuhdasht.
According to media reports, security forces attempted to use firearms to disperse the rally in Kuhdasht. In response, protesters began throwing stones, which may have led to the death of the Basij member.
On January 5, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that there would be no leniency shown to those arrested during the protests. Meanwhile, in Iran, nearly two thousand people were executed in 2025 - twice as many as the previous year.
The Times: Khamenei is ready to flee to Moscow if protests cannot be suppressed
86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei plans to leave Tehran if he sees that the army and security forces stop obeying orders and switch sides to the protesters, the British newspaper The Times reported earlier, citing British intelligence.
The so-called "Plan B," which implies fleeing the country, is intended for Khamenei and his closest circle, including his son and presumed heir Mojtaba, a source told the publication.
Former Israeli intelligence officer Benny Sabti, who fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution, believes that Khamenei could go to Moscow because "there is no other place for him." He cites the example of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's flight to Moscow just before the rebels captured Damascus.
Mass protests in Iran have been ongoing since December 28. They began at Tehran's main city bazaar, where many shop owners closed their stores in protest against hyperinflation and sharp price fluctuations, AFP notes. On December 29, the exchange rate of the rial - Iran's national currency - fell to a new record low (one rial was approximately equal to 0.00002 euros). In October, according to the World Bank, food inflation in Iran reached 64.2% - only South Sudan surpassed the country in this negative ranking.
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