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Protests in Iran over the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Here is what we know about the protests in Iran so far.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n The protest started with shopkeepers in Tehran\u2019s Grand Bazaar who shuttered their shops and began demonstrating. It then spread to other provinces of Iran.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s cheapest petrol or gasoline and adding to the financial strain on households.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf only the government, instead of just focusing on fuel, could bring down the price of other goods,\u201d taxi driver Majid Ebrahimi told Al Jazeera in late December. \u201cThe prices of dairy products have gone up six times this year and other goods more than 10 times.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n After Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were chants in his [Pahlavi\u2019s] support on the streets of Iran among other chants in this round of protests,\u201d Maryam Alemzadeh, an associate professor in the history and politics of Iran at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Demands for democracy and opposition to the Islamic government\u2019s strict laws have been building for some time, especially since the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody in 2022.<\/p>\n In September 2022, Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran\u2019s notorious morality police for alleged non-compliance with Iran\u2019s strict dress code. She was taken to a re-education centre where she collapsed. She died in hospital a few days later.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Fars News Agency said \u201climited\u201d demonstrations were held on Sunday night in Tehran\u2019s Navvab and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Fars reported that security forces moved in and broke up those gatherings, while the rest of the country\u2019s cities and provinces remained calm overnight.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
What are the protests in Iran about?<\/h2>\n
Where are the protests happening?<\/h2>\n
How many people have died in the protests?<\/h2>\n