Violent protests and a fierce security crackdown have killed hundreds of people in Iran. The US president is threatening to bomb the country, while Iranian officials condemn foreign interference. So, what’s really going on? Soraya Lennie explains.
Protests in Iran over the country’s economic conditions, which broke out in late December 2025, have snowballed into a broader challenge to the clerical rulers who have governed Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Here is what we know about the protests in Iran so far.
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Protests broke out over soaring prices in Iran on December 28, 2025 after the rial plunged to a record low against the United States dollar in late December.
The protest started with shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar who shuttered their shops and began demonstrating. It then spread to other provinces of Iran.
On Monday, the rial was trading at more than 1.4 million to $1, a sharp decline from around 700,000 a year earlier in January 2025 and around 900,000 in mid-2025. The plummeting currency has triggered steep inflation, with food prices an average of 72 percent higher than last year. Annual inflation is currently around 40 percent.
Iran’s economy is ailing for several reasons. The country fought a 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, which resulted in infrastructural damage in several Iranian cities.
Additionally, in September 2025, the United Nations re-imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme when the UN Security Council voted against permanently lifting economic sanctions on Iran.
In December, Iran introduced a new tier in its national fuel subsidy system, effectively raising the price of what had been some of the world’s cheapest petrol or gasoline and adding to the financial strain on households.
Officials will now reassess fuel prices every three months, opening the door to further hikes. At the same time, food prices are set to climb after the Central Bank recently scrapped a preferential, subsidised dollar-rial rate for all imports except medicine and wheat.
“If only the government, instead of just focusing on fuel, could bring down the price of other goods,” taxi driver Majid Ebrahimi told Al Jazeera in late December. “The prices of dairy products have gone up six times this year and other goods more than 10 times.”
While chants by protesters initially focused on the ailing economy, they have switched to opposition to the clerical establishment in Iran. Some protesters have also begun chanting in support of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of deposed Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the heir to the former Pahlavi monarchy.
Many supporters of Pahlavi are calling for a return to the monarchy, although Pahlavi himself says he favours holding a referendum to determine what type of government structure Iranians want.
After Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran’s prime minister who was democratically elected in 1951, nationalised the British-controlled oil industry in Iran, he was overthrown in a 1953 coup backed by the US and the United Kingdom to secure Western oil interests. A repressive royal rule was reinstated until 1979, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, fled the country as the Islamic revolution took hold. He died in Egypt in 1980.
“There were chants in his [Pahlavi’s] support on the streets of Iran among other chants in this round of protests,” Maryam Alemzadeh, an associate professor in the history and politics of Iran at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.
Demands for democracy and opposition to the Islamic government’s strict laws have been building for some time, especially since the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody in 2022.
In September 2022, Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran’s notorious morality police for alleged non-compliance with Iran’s strict dress code. She was taken to a re-education centre where she collapsed. She died in hospital a few days later.
The initial protests were staged by shopkeepers in Tehran angered by rising prices. However, protests have now become more widespread. A large, fragmented opposition base is emerging both inside Iran and within Iranian diaspora communities in other countries.
Iran’s Fars News Agency said “limited” demonstrations were held on Sunday night in Tehran’s Navvab and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods.
Protesters also gathered in the cities of Hafshejan and Junqan in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and a separate rally took place in Taybad county in the northeastern province of Razavi Khorasan.
Fars reported that security forces moved in and broke up those gatherings, while the rest of the country’s cities and provinces remained calm overnight.
Protests have also spread to other countries where there are significant Iranian communities, including the US, UK, Germany, France, Turkiye, and Pakistan, in solidarity with the protesters in Iran.
More than 100 security personnel have been killed in recent days, state media has reported, while opposition activists say the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify these figures.
Experts fear that the death toll could be far higher. “Minimal news that makes it out of the total internet shutdown signifies that thousands of citizens might have been killed by government forces,” Alemzadeh said.
Iran’s internet blackout entered its fourth day on Monday, according to watchdog NetBlocks.
It remains unclear whether the internet was actively blocked by the government. However, in a post on social media on Thursday, NetBlocks said the blackout follows “a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country and hinders the public’s right to communicate at a critical moment”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the internet would soon be restored in Iran, adding that the government was coordinating with the security establishment on the issue.
The foreign minister said connectivity would also be restored to embassies and government ministries.
Since protests began in December, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that Washington could intervene militarily in Iran if there is a violent crackdown.
Araghchi alleged that nationwide protests have “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for Trump to intervene militarily.
He added that Trump’s warning of military action against Tehran should protests turn violent had motivated “terrorists” to target protesters and security forces to encourage foreign intervention. “We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” he said.
Araghchi also said that the Iranian authorities have gathered video footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding that they will soon release confessions from detainees.
The demonstrations had been “stoked and fuelled” by foreign elements, he said, noting security forces would “hunt down” those responsible.
Alemzadeh said an uprising could escalate in Iran if protesters’ demands are not addressed.
“Protesters have been faced with repression that is unprecedented in brutality, even with the Islamic Republic’s notorious standard,” she said.
She added: “The grievances, however, are not going to be quieted this time around.”
Alemzadeh said that life for many in Iran has become intolerable under the current economic conditions, which many see as caused by corruption, mismanagement and international sanctions. Additionally, Iranians have been denied freedom of speech and lifestyle for decades, she added.
“Even if this round of protests is repressed by extreme violence, another could emerge in no time until a radical shift occurs,” she said.
Syrian government forces have been carrying out security sweeps in the city of Aleppo after days of battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
As some residents displaced by the fighting began returning to their areas, army forces on Monday were working to remove explosive devices and weapons in other parts.
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The operation comes after the last SDF fighters left Aleppo on Sunday following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods to parts of northeastern Syria, where the Kurdish-led forces run a semi-autonomous zone.
The intense fighting that erupted last week was linked to stalled negotiations over the integration of Kurdish-run institutions and SDF fighters into the Syrian state following an agreement reached between both sides in March last year.
Residents of Ashrafieh, the first of the two neighbourhoods to fall to the Syrian army, began returning to their homes to inspect the damage, finding shrapnel and broken glass littering the streets on Sunday.
“Most people are returning to Ashrafieh, and they have begun to rebuild as there has been a lot of destruction,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Aleppo.
He added that this was not the case for Sheikh Maqsoud, where government forces were still searching for explosives.
Smith added that Syrian forces were also looking for opposition prisoners arrested by the SDF during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by forces led by the incumbent, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
SDF leader Mazlum Abdi said on X the fighters were evacuated “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”.
Abdi, in his statement, called on “the mediators to abide by their promises to stop the violations”.
US envoy Tom Barrack met al-Sharaa on Saturday and afterwards issued a call for a “return to dialogue” in accordance with the integration agreement.
The departure of the fighters marks the removal of SDF from pockets of Aleppo, which it has held since Syria’s war began in 2011.
“Even though the SDF has been bussed to its stronghold in northeastern Syria, this has still played out well for the government in Damascus,” said Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna, reporting from the capital, calling it a “strategic victory” for Syria’s new leadership.
Still, he added, the government has been eager to promote a message of national unity. “They call the events in Aleppo a limited law enforcement operation, instead of open war with the SDF, so they’re really pushing for the integration and unity for Syria.”
Syrian health authorities said on Sunday at least 24 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded in SDF attacks since Tuesday.
Munir al-Mohammad, media director at Aleppo’s health directorate, said the casualties were caused by repeated attacks targeting civilian areas, according to Syria’s official SANA news agency.
The internationally recognised government of Yemen says its forces have taken full control of the south from the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which was aligned with the Saudi-backed government until recently.
“As the president of the country and the high commander of the armed forces, I want to assure you of the recapture of Hadramout and al-Mahra,” Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said on Saturday.
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Last month, Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in support of the PLC after the STC captured the two border provinces, which Riyadh said was a threat to its national security. The STC along with the PLC fought against the Houthis, who control northwest of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
On Friday, the STC was dissolved, and its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, fled the country after forces loyal to the PLC took control of most of the south and eastern Yemen.
The future of the STC, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, remains uncertain amid internal divisions and the exile of its leader.
Saudi Arabia is now planning to host a conference of the main political factions from the south to shape the future of Yemen.
So what’s the latest political and security situation in Yemen, and what are the challenges in uniting Yemen?
In his televised address on Saturday, al-Alimi called on all parties to unite ranks to restore state institutions.
He announced the formation of a Supreme Military Committee, which has been tasked with preparing military forces for the next phase of the conflict and readying them if the Houthis reject peaceful solutions.
The Yemeni leader warned armed groups to surrender their weapons and rejoin the ranks of the state, underlining “the importance of strengthening security, protecting social peace and working closely with the [governing] coalition and the international community to combat terrorism”.
He accused the Houthis of refusing to engage in dialogue and blamed the Iran-linked group for prolonging Yemen’s suffering because of their “coup against constitutional legitimacy”.
“South Yemen has for the first time in 10 years one political and military authority. No more military factions, no more divisions over ethnic and sectarian lines for the time being. There is going to be one Supreme Military Committee under the control of President Al-Alimi,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said, reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Rashad al-Alimi has told the Houthis that they have two options: negotiate a settlement or face repercussions, including the potential for a military offensive,” he said.
Al-Alimi is a successor of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the leader of a United Nations-backed government who was evicted by the Houthis in 2014. The Houthis insist they are the legitimate authority across Yemen and do not recognise the PLC, which was formed in 2022.
“Now the PLC, backed by Saudi Arabia, is reforming institutions, disbanding STC institutions, and they are saying that their focus in the near future would be confrontation with the Houthis,” Ahelbarra said.
The president said the issue of self-determination in southern Yemen would remain a top priority, backing a southern dialogue conference under Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship.
As the Saudi-backed military campaign against STC forces intensified in Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces, the southern separatist movement announced plans to hold a referendum on independence from the north on January 2.
But days later, the southern separatist force suffered major territorial losses at the hands of the PLC forces, who expanded their control over most of southern Yemen, where the STC had sway for more than a decade. The group’s now-exiled leader remains defiant, but some of its other leaders have switched loyalties.
On Friday, STC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Jalal al-Subaihi said in a broadcast on Yemeni television that the dissolution of the group was taken to preserve peace and security in the south and in neighbouring countries.
He praised “the measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the solutions it has provided that meet the needs of the people of the South”.
However, STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi, who is in Abu Dhabi, rejected the announcement coming out of Saudi Arabia, calling it “ridiculous news”.
On Saturday, thousands of STC supporters poured onto the streets of Aden, the capital of anti-Houthi forces in southern Yemen.
“The STC members who joined Riyadh say they are waiting to see what happens next when it comes to details of the Riyadh conference,” Ahelbarra said, referring to talks between the PLC and STC in the Saudi capital.
“I think the consensus is that everybody is willing to talk about federal system, some sort of autonomy. But the very notion of separatism is over.
“Will people in the south willing to accept the notion of autonomy or federalism, that remains to be seen,” he said.
The disenfranchisement of southern Yemen after the region was merged with the north to form a united Yemen in 1990 has also been one of the grievances.
“Al-Alimi said these are genuine concerns which are going to be taken into account at the conference. Whether he will be able to address some of those concerns remains to be seen,” the Al Jazeera correspondent said. The date of the conference is yet to be announced.
Since its formation in 2017, the STC’s goal has been separation from the rest of Yemen. Two years later, it took control of Aden and other areas in the south from the Yemeni government.
Al-Zubaidi later joined the PLC as vice president, but he continued to nurse the ambition for a “two-state solution” as STC fighters continued to expand their control in the south, weakening the fight against the Houthis.
The current conflict was triggered after the STC forces captured Hadramout and al-Mahra, drawing the Saudi intervention.
Al-Zubaidi has since been removed from his post as a PLC member, stripped of his immunity, and charged with “high treason” and “inciting internal strife”.
The Saudi military said in a statement on Thursday that al-Zubaidi fled by boat to Somalia and then flew to Abu Dhabi.
In November, a Saudi-backed umbrella group of tribes from the Hadramout region seized the PetroMasila oil facility, seeking a bigger share of oil revenues and an improvement of services for Hadramout residents.
The STC used the seizure as a pretext for advancing in Hadramout and al-Mahra. These two regions hold nearly all of Yemen’s oil reserves.
Tensions soared after Saudi-backed forces attacked the Yemeni port city of Mukalla in the south, alleging incoming shipments of arms from the UAE for the STC.
The UAE said it had been surprised by the Saudi air strikes and the shipments in question did not contain weapons and were destined for Emirati forces, not the STC.
Less than two weeks later, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government had taken control of the south and east of the country from STC forces.
Hesham Alghannam, a Saudi scholar with the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, said the kingdom’s move “made it very clear” that it views Yemen’s eastern provinces, especially Hadramout, as a “core national security matter”.
Riyadh views the region as critical, Alghannam said, because of its geography and strategic oil and port assets. “From Riyadh’s view, losing influence there would be more than a local setback,” he told Al Jazeera. “It would create a major security gap. It would weaken energy resilience and open space for hostile or competing powers to position themselves directly south of the kingdom.”
The Saudi-backed governing coalition then asked the UAE to withdraw its forces from Yemen within 24 hours.
The UAE withdrew all its “counterterrorism” units from Yemen. The UAE’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out a “comprehensive assessment” of its role in Yemen and decided to end its mission there.
The episode has strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The STC will find it hard to bounce back without military support from the UAE while many of its leaders have shown a willingness to participate in the Saudi-led dialogue.
However, it is believed to still hold influence in the region.
Abdulaziz Alghashian, an adjunct professor at Naif Arab University, said the dissolution of the STC was inevitable.
“I think the legacy of the STC has now become just too poisonous. I think the recent developments have just illustrated the fact that there is probably no goodwill for the STC to be part of a genuine political process,” Alghashian told Al Jazeera.
“The dissolution of the STC suggests clearly there is a clear restructuring of the political process within Yemen. And the political framework that Saudi Arabia is trying to work with is also being redeveloped and restructured in a manner that creates a lot of confidence for Saudi to get involved in,” he said.
But some experts said the Saudi goal of a united Yemen would be difficult to achieve due to southern divisions and the Houthis’ control of northwest Yemen.
Yousef Mawry, a journalist based in Sanaa, said Yemen’s conflict will shift from the south to the north and a showdown is expected between PLC forces and the Houthis.
He added that both sides believe in a unified Yemeni state but each side believes they are the ones who should be ruling over the affairs of both the north and the south.
“The big question: Is there a common ground that al-Alimi’s government and the Houthis can agree on?” he said.
“The Houthis believe that al-Alimi’s government is nothing but a Saudi proxy that is working on behalf of the US and Saudi interests over Yemeni land. Al-Alimi has pointed fingers at the Houthis, accusing them of being an Iranian proxy,” he told Al Jazeera.
The Saudi-led military coalition, which included the UAE, intervened in support of Hadi’s UN-recognised government in 2015 but failed to defeat the Houthis. The war ended in a deadlock with the Houthis still in control of Sanaa and the regions around it.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis agreed to release prisoners and pledged not to attack each other’s territory. But the larger political questions remain to be resolved.
“What we are seeing is that al-Alimi is taking over full control of the south. Once they have full control, whatever political framework that works in, the Houthis are not going to accept it,” Mawry said.
There is mistrust between the two sides with the Houthis accusing the PLC of catering to the interests of foreign powers while the PLC accuses the Houthis of running Iranian propaganda. Saudi Arabia has historically maintained influence in its southern neighbour – Arab region’s poorest country. Houthis challenged Riyadh’s traditional role in the country.
Last week, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency approved the participation of Bosnian troops in the international stabilisation mission in Gaza. The decision was a rare instance of interethnic consensus, which has been ostensibly missing since the end of the Bosnian War in the 1990s.
The mission was authorised by a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted on November 17, based on United States President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to end the genocidal war in Gaza. The resolution allows for the deployment of international forces to oversee demilitarisation and the destruction of military infrastructure, and to help legitimise a transitional governance arrangement for the enclave.
It is clear that the plan favours Israel and is meant to assist it in further consolidating its occupation of Palestinian territory. The question is, why would a country that itself has experienced a genocide and has seen regular protests condemning the one in Gaza decide to participate in such a mission?
Few societies in Europe identify with Palestinian suffering as viscerally as the Bosnian society does. In a December 2023 survey, 61 percent of respondents said Bosnia should support Palestine. Among Bosniaks, the percentage of those who felt solidarity with the Palestinian cause was even higher; Croats and Serbs were split between backing Israel, Palestine and neutrality.
In Sarajevo, support for Gaza is more than evident. For the past two years, thousands have taken to the streets of the capital in regular protests condemning Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. International brands such as Zara and US fast-food chains like KFC, Burger King, and Coca-Cola have been boycotted.
Every week, people gather near Sarajevo’s Eternal Flame memorial to read aloud the names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza — a quiet, devastating ritual of remembrance.
In October, nearly 6,000 people marched through Sarajevo under the banner “Bosnia and Herzegovina for a Free Palestine”, beginning at the Monument to the Murdered Children of Besieged Sarajevo and ending near the National Museum. Demonstrators held Palestinian flags and banners reading “Stop the Genocide” and “Stop Killing Children”. The message was clear: a society that survived siege and genocide believes it has a moral obligation to stand with Gaza.
The most striking aspect of this display of solidarity is who has joined it. The most sustained and visible support for Gaza has come not from Bosnia’s Islamic religious institutions or mainstream political parties, but from civic-minded, often left-leaning intellectuals, artists, students and grassroots activists.
In fact, the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina has not organised mass marches or nationwide mobilisations, nor have Bosniak Muslim political parties. Instead, the streets have been filled with ordinary citizens — many secular, many young — driven less by formal religious affiliation than by an ethical reflex shaped by the lived experience of siege, displacement and mass violence.
Equally revealing has been the absence of groups that explicitly frame their identity around religious solidarity. Salafi communities in Bosnia, who are frequently vocal on questions of ritual observance and doctrinal purity, remained largely outside public mobilisation on Gaza. Their engagement has rarely extended beyond sermons, online statements, or symbolic gestures.
In Bosnia’s case, solidarity with Gaza emerged not as an expression of organised religiosity, but as a bottom-up, civic response rooted in memory, empathy, and a broadly shared sense of justice.
So what prompted the tripartite presidency to agree on participation in a mission meant to support Israel when Bosnian citizens overwhelmingly show solidarity with the Palestinians?
To understand Bosnian politics, it is important to highlight the source of its dysfunction: the overly complicated governance system based on ethnic identity, which the Dayton Accords established in 1995.
Bosnia has a tripartite presidency, which rotates every eight months between one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat member. Each member is elected by plurality, not majority, from within their ethnic group, which reinforces zero-sum ethnic politics rather than consensus. The Bosnian Parliament also has ethnic quotas.
Decisions are supposed to be made by consensus, which is absent most of the time, leading to gridlock. As a result, this overly complex system often cannot take decisions as simple as approving the state budget. So how is it that it reached consensus on a peacekeeping deployment in Gaza?
It is also important to point out that Bosnia has participated in international peacekeeping missions before. Since the mid-2000s, the country has regularly contributed troops, military police, medical personnel and staff officers to NATO-, UN- and European Union-led missions abroad, most notably in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan and Cyprus.
These deployments have functioned as symbolic gestures, promoted by influential international organisations based in Sarajevo – the UN, EU, and NATO – to signal Bosnia’s supposed transition from a net consumer to a net provider of security. At the same time, they served as a convenient vehicle for these organisations to showcase an ostensibly successful state-building narrative to their international donors.
In the case of the Gaza peace mission, the leaders of Bosnia’s ethnic elites may see participation as a way to curry favour with Washington for their own ends. Bosniak leaders still view the US as the ultimate guarantor of Bosnia’s territorial integrity, while Croat elites see US backing as leverage in dealings with the EU. Serb leaders, despite their anti-Western rhetoric, have invested heavily in US lobbying firms to court Trump’s attention and seek the removal of top Serb figures from US sanctions lists.
This dependence underscores Bosnia’s constrained sovereignty, where foreign policy often signals loyalty abroad rather than a coherent national strategy at home.
But for many Bosnians, Gaza is not an abstract security problem; it is a moral mirror — one that reflects their own unresolved trauma.
While public sentiment is driven by empathy and solidarity, leaders across all three camps approach Gaza primarily through the prism of political convenience. The result is a familiar pattern in Bosnian politics: policy reflects narrow elite interests rather than popular will.
Dozens of global writers and scholars have signed a declaration of solidarity to support hunger-striking prisoners from the proscribed Palestine Action group.
Author Naomi Klein, novelist Sally Rooney, activist and academic Angela Davis, philosopher Judith Butler and journalist George Monbiot are among the signatories backing three British activists in the United Kingdom who are refusing food until their demands are met.
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Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed have been on hunger strike for 71 and 64 days, respectively, as part of a protest that began in November. A third prisoner, Lewie Chiaramello, is also refusing food on alternating days due to type 1 diabetes.
The activists are being held in different prisons over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Oxfordshire. They deny all the charges against them, which include burglary and violent disorder.
The hunger-striking prisoners are demanding bail and the right to a fair trial, as well as a reversal of the UK government’s designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”.
They are also calling for the closure of all Elbit sites in the UK and an end to what they describe as censorship inside prison, including the withholding of mail, phone calls and books.
Five of the eight people who took part in the initial protest have ended their hunger strikes due to health concerns.
All eight of the activists will have spent more than a year in custody without trials, exceeding the UK’s usual six-month pre-trial detention limit.
There is growing international pressure on the UK government to take action to preserve the lives of the Palestine Action prisoners.
Former hunger strikers from Ireland, Palestine and Guantanamo Bay have issued an urgent appeal calling on British ministers to meet families and legal representatives of the activists.
Friends and relatives of the prisoners have told Al Jazeera that they are determined to continue refusing food until all of their demands are met, despite their rapidly deteriorating health.
On New Year’s Eve, hundreds in Belfast gathered in solidarity with the Palestine Action activists on hunger strikes. Their chants echoed past murals that do not merely decorate the city, but testify to its troubled past.
Along the Falls Road, Irish republican murals sit beside Palestinian ones. The International Wall, once a rolling canvas of global struggles, has become known as the Palestinian wall. Poems by the late Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer, killed in an Israeli air attack in December 2023, run across its length. Images sent by Palestinian artists have been painted by local hands.