Update: US and Israel begin bombing campaign against Iran

[x65943]

Mass protests and demonstrations have been ongoing in Iran for 13 days. Market sellers first began to strike and vent frustration over economic woes. The rial has seen inflation of over 40% as of last month and food prices jumped by as much as 70%. 1,500,000 rial is now worth 1 USD. On top of this, water shortages have been affecting the entire nation, but particularly the two most populous cities of Mashhad and Tehran.

What started as economic protests quickly escalated as people directed criticism towards the Islamic regime, which they say has mismanaged the country for 47 years. The current unrest is currently affecting every major city. The last such widespread protest movement occurred in 2022 after the slaying of a girl breaking compulsory hijab laws.

January 8th, the son of the last Shah asked people to come together at 8:00PM local time, leading to increasing participation and escalation. The Islamic government responded by cutting off all telecom access. Statues of so-called martyrs have been toppled, news buildings set alight, and videos have surfaced of civilians driving cars over government enforcers.

Some information has continued to trickle through via Starlink satellites from Iran, and many videos are available showing the results of the harsh government crackdown revealing bloodied bodies in trauma centers and town squares. In an address tonight the supreme leader of Iran has blamed President Trump for the unrest, saying "he has the blood of Iranians on his hands".

Rumors have circulated that Iranian gold deposits have been transferred to Russia. The veracity of this statement is unclear.

What do you think will happen next? This is not the first such nationwide protest in Iran, however, the economic situation at the present time is certainly the worst it has ever been. President Trump warned Khamenei (the supreme leader) not to harm protesters, but it remains unclear if the US would become involved in the conflict. There are reports that the US has moved naval forces close to Iran.

Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...d-supreme-leader-warns-protesters-2026-01-09/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g49djqqjgo
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cj6w82wg416o
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/09/iran-regime-ayatollah-tehran-unrest/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–2026_Iranian_protests

tl;dr Persians are pissed and protesting, and the government is shooting them

 

[titan_tim]

Americans, take note. Trump said it's bad to shoot protesters if they try to overthrow the government. You can be sure he'd honor that if/when the tables were/are turned.

 

[Xzi]

2026 has no fucking chill. I wish them all the luck in the world in overthrowing their tyrannical regime, but if the US military gets involved, it would be for the sole purpose of installing Trump's own puppet dictator loyal to Israel and the West.

 

[x65943]

2026 has no fucking chill. I wish them all the luck in the world in overthrowing their tyrannical regime, but if the US military gets involved, it would be for the sole purpose of installing Trump's own puppet dictator loyal to Israel and the West.

If you read social media, at this point Iranians are so desperate they are hoping for that

 

[Valwinz]

Good for them about time Iran is free

 

[Xzi]

If you read social media, at this point Iranians are so desperate they are hoping for that

It always seems like a positive thing in the short term, but far right is far right in the long term. Christofascism, Zionism, Islamic extremism, all different names for the same diarrhea sandwich. What happened in Gaza is a preview for the fate Netanyahu would ultimately want for Iranians too.

 

[x65943]

It always seems like a positive thing in the short term, but far right is far right in the long term. Christofascism, Zionism, Islamic extremism, all different names for the same diarrhea sandwich. What happened in Gaza is a preview for the fate Netanyahu would ultimately want for Iranians too.

What you're saying has some truth

However I think they would take a Saudi Arabian style government over the current regime (similarly oppressive but functional)

It's true most of the current economic situation is manufactured by sanctions however - so to me it's not clear the government is so wildly awful (don't get me wrong they are bad) as much as the western world has sanctioned them into oblivion

 

[Eddypikachu]

There's also some protests in Is*rael against being drafted to kill even more innocent women and children in Gaza and the IDF drove a bus through a crowd of protestors and killing one 14 year old boy
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/...over-and-kills-ultra-orthodox-boy/ar-AA1TJt9E

 

[x65943]

There's also some protests in Israel against being drafted to kill even more innocent women and children in Gaza and the IDF drove a bus through a crowd of protestors and killing one 14 year old boy
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/...over-and-kills-ultra-orthodox-boy/ar-AA1TJt9E

This is unrelated to Iran, but uh, okay?

 

[LoggerMan]

I think there will be a regime change soon. Nothing any of us can do about it either way.

 

[Eddypikachu]

This is unrelated to Iran, but uh, okay?

Well both of our posts are about protests against the government so it's tangentially related

 

[Viri]

These protesters are extremely brave, because, if their protest fails, THEY'RE FUCKED. The regime will find each and every single one of them and execute them. If a protester was on camera, he/she just drew a bull's eye on them self.

Also, Iran regime cut off all internet and phone, which means they're desperate. Starlink was smuggled into the country, and Elon Musk made Starlink free in Iran.

 

[MPRTwice]

Wars and rumors of wars. But the end is not yet.

 

[x65943]

These protesters are extremely brave, because, if their protest fails, THEY'RE FUCKED. The regime will find each and every single one of them and execute them. If a protester was on camera, he/she just drew a bull's eye on them self.

Yes

That's also why BBC iran has all the protesters blurred in their videos

It would be one thing if they were simply executed - but we know they would be tortured as well

 

[Vixi]

This is unrelated to Iran, but uh, okay?

Iran has had a hand in the war between Israel and Gaza and Lebanon and Yemen and Iran.

 

[Xzi]

These protesters are extremely brave, because, if their protest fails, THEY'RE FUCKED. The regime will find each and every single one of them and execute them. If a protester was on camera, he/she just drew a bull's eye on them self.

Also, Iran regime cut off all internet and phone, which means they're desperate. Starlink was smuggled into the country, and Elon Musk made Starlink free in Iran.

Sadly more than 200 reported dead already, so they aren't waiting to identify protestors after the fact.

 

[x65943]

Sadly more than 200 reported dead already, so they aren't waiting to identify protestors after the fact.

Yes plenty of videos of dead people, you can view videos from Iran on bbcpersia on Instagram

If you just want to see mostly positive things you can follow videos as they come out of reddit.com/r/newiran

 

[Jayinem]

There are exactly seven countries left in the entire world that do not have a Rothschild owned Central Bank. One is Venezuela where they just kidnapped the President and his wife and put a puppet in charge, another is Iran.

 

[emigre]

If you read social media, at this point Iranians are so desperate they are hoping for that

To add to this, the US were key in bringing down the democratically elected Iranian government in the 50s which started off the trajectory to the Islamic revolution and all this bullshit.

Hopefully they overturn the regime now and have a government which rules by consent but the US government is not their friends and I'm sure will only fuck them over for another couple of decades..

 

[x65943]

To add to this, the US were key in bringing down the democratically elected Iranian government in the 50s which started off the trajectory to the Islamic revolution and all this bullshit.

Hopefully they overturn the regime now and have a government which rules by consent but the US government is not their friends and I'm sure will only fuck them over for another couple of decades..

I think we can all agree US intervention tends to be misguided at best

Syria under its Turkish leadership seems to be stable - it's too bad Iran doesn't have any stable well wishing nations to help them along - Iraq to one side, Afghanistan to the other