In early January, civilians in Iran took to the streets to protest the economic crisis throughout the country, until the sentiment evolved into one that is anti-government, according to a Jan. 27 New York Times article titled “How Iran Crushed A Citizen Uprising With Lethal Force,” by Farnaz Fassihi, Sanjana Varghese, Malachy Browne, and Parin Behrooz.
An article titled “Why the Latest Iran Protests Started in the Tehran Bazaar” from the Stimson Center by Javad Heiran-Nia says the protests began in a key marketplace in Tehran, the country’s capital, called the Grand Bazaar. Still, the protests quickly spread to several other Iranian cities, including Urmia and Tabriz. “The New York Times” writes that the Iranian government reacted with retaliation and instructed the Supreme National Security Council to use weapons and force to suppress the protestors.
As explained by the Stimson Center, the protests began in early December 2025 due to the collapse of the Iranian currency. “[T]he Iranian rial fell to its lowest historical level against the U.S. dollar, about 1.4 million rials per dollar, placing immense pressure on the public and on merchants struggling to price their goods,” the article explains. However, the situation worsened on Friday Jan. 9 when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered Iran’s task force “to crush the protests by any means necessary,” as told by The NYT. By that Monday, Jan. 12, the majority of the protests had majorly been suppressed through use of “weapons of war.” Iran justifies this on suspicions that these protests are backed by US and Israeli terrorist groups, per both the Stimson Center and The NYT.
The death toll of this month-long event has not been determined, as several sources claim different numbers. In an article from Feb. 17th by The NYT titled, “Iranians Mourn Slain Protesters with ‘Revolutionary Rage,’” by Erika Solomon, Leily Nikounazar, and Sankana Varghese, the death toll has been confirmed by the Iranian government as up to 3,000 deaths. However, as of Feb. 27, the Human Rights Activists News Agency has claimed there has been a loss of over 7,000, according to the NYT article from Feb. 17th.
Iranians are determined, yet struggling, to carry out funeral rituals for their lost loved ones. The NYT affirms that security forces are even policing the mourning families of killed protestors. Still, the spirit of the Iranian people is resilient, as mourners hold memorials and chant “[T]he fallen flower has become a gift to the homeland,” the NYT reports.
Bringing this topic to light in a small college newspaper is not just for archival purposes, but to inform the Salem College community of what is going on in the world. After all, nothing is ever an isolated incident.
