Demonstrations sparked by Iran’s deepening economic crisis spread Thursday into rural provinces, leaving at least three people dead in the first reported fatalities among protesters and security forces, Iranian authorities and rights groups said.
The deaths may signal the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy as protests appear to slow in the capital, Tehran, while expanding elsewhere. One person was reported killed on Wednesday and two more on Thursday in cities largely populated by Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
Footage from protests in Iran
The protests are the largest Iran has seen since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the current unrest has yet to reach similar intensity or spread nationwide, though chants against the regime have been reported.
In the western city of Lordegan, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, videos circulating online showed demonstrators gathered on a street as gunfire could be heard in the background. The footage matched known features of the city, located about 470 kilometers (290 miles) south of Tehran.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency, citing an unnamed official, reported that two people were killed during clashes on Thursday between police and what it described as “armed protesters.” Another Iranian outlet reported two fatalities in clashes in the southwest, though nationwide casualty figures remained unclear.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran also said two demonstrators were killed in Lordegan, sharing an image of what appeared to show an Iranian police officer wearing body armor and holding a shotgun. Iranian state media did not immediately report on violence in the city.
Separately, Iranian authorities reported the death of a 21-year-old volunteer member of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij paramilitary force during protests on Wednesday night in the city of Kouhdasht, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran.
State-run IRNA confirmed the Guard member’s death without elaboration. The Student News Network, an outlet believed to be close to the Basij, directly blamed demonstrators, citing Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Lorestan province.
“He was martyred at the hands of rioters during protests in defense of public order,” Pourali was quoted as saying. He added that 13 Basij members and police officers were injured.
Pourali acknowledged the economic roots of the unrest, saying protests stemmed from “economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations,” but warned against what he called exploitation by “profit-seeking individuals.”
Local prosecutor Kazem Nazari said 20 people were arrested in Kouhdasht and that calm had since returned, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
The demonstrations erupted after a sharp collapse in Iran’s currency, with the rial rapidly depreciating to about 1.4 million to the dollar. President Masoud Pezeshkian has urged officials to address the economic crisis, warning earlier this week that failure to solve livelihood problems would have dire consequences.
State television reported the arrest of seven additional people elsewhere, including five described as monarchists and two allegedly linked to Europe-based groups. It also said security forces seized 100 smuggled pistols, without providing details.
Authorities declared Wednesday a public holiday across much of the country, officially citing cold weather, a move widely seen as an effort to thin crowds in Tehran ahead of the Iranian weekend and additional religious holidays.
The protests also come as Iran’s leadership remains under strain following a 12-day war with Israel in June, during which the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites. Tehran has said it is no longer enriching uranium at any location, signaling openness to renewed negotiations, though talks have yet to materialize amid warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
First published: 16:15, 01.01.26