At least thirty-six people have been killed during a tenth day of widespread protests in Iran, as security forces deployed tear gas against demonstrators staging a sit-in at Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar on Tuesday.
Market Shutdown and Escalating Violence
Witnesses reported that security forces moved to disperse crowds with tear gas as the capital's main market was forced to shut down. The confrontations mark a significant escalation in protests that have now spread to over 270 locations across 27 of Iran's 31 provinces.
According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll of at least 36 includes 29 protesters, four children, and two members of the security forces. More than 1,200 individuals have been detained since the unrest began.
Economic Despair Fuels Nationwide Anger
The protests, among the most significant in years, were triggered by a severe economic crisis and the record collapse of the Iranian rial. The situation is expected to deteriorate further after Iran's Central Bank drastically reduced subsidised dollar exchange rates for importers and producers.
This move will likely cause merchants to hike prices for consumers, whose savings have already been devastated by years of international sanctions. The country's economic hardships intensified after the United States first imposed tariffs in 2018.
In a televised address, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered a government investigation into one protest incident but admitted the crisis may be rapidly moving beyond official control. "We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone," Pezeshkian stated. "The government simply does not have that capacity."
International Reaction and Internal Defiance
The protests have taken a distinctly political turn, with several participants now openly calling for the overthrow of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reports suggest Khamenei has planned to flee to Moscow should the demonstrations escalate further.
On Saturday, Khamenei stated that "rioters must be put in their place," signalling a refusal to engage in dialogue over the economy. Last week, former U.S. President Donald Trump warned that if Tehran "violently kills peaceful protesters," the United States would "come to their rescue," though he provided no specifics.
While Iran has faced previous rounds of economic protests, the current unrest has not yet reached the scale of the 2022-23 demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.
