Iranian authorities faced mounting pressure as demonstrations expanded across the country, even as the protests themselves showed no clear central leadership. Analysts say the absence of an organized alternative has historically weakened similar movements.

“The lack of a viable alternative has undermined past protests in Iran,” wrote Nate Swanson of the Washington-based Atlantic Council, who studies Iran.

“There may be a thousand Iranian dissident activists who, given a chance, could emerge as respected statesmen, as labor leader Lech Walesa did in Poland at the end of the Cold War. But so far, the Iranian security apparatus has arrested, persecuted and exiled all of the country’s potential transformational leaders.”

Despite that, unrest continued to grow. Demonstrations that erupted Wednesday in cities and small towns carried into Thursday, with additional markets and bazaars closing in solidarity with protesters. According to the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, at least 45 demonstrators have been killed so far, among them eight minors.

12th day of anti-establishment protests in Iran
The crowd of protesters in Tehran got bigger. Same location as the one quoted here@GeoConfirmed https://t.co/zwOV0BvI4Q pic.twitter.com/oa5c6HNao6
— Ghoncheh Habibiazad | غنچه (@GhonchehAzad) January 8, 2026

The organization said Wednesday marked the deadliest day since the protests began.

“The evidence shows that the scope of the crackdown is becoming more violent and more extensive every day,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding that hundreds more have been wounded and over 2,000 arrested.

Thursday night brought a dramatic escalation in Tehran, where thousands of residents chanted from their homes and poured into the streets after a call for mass demonstrations by exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, witnesses said. Almost immediately after the protests began, internet access and telephone service inside Iran went down.

CloudFlare and the monitoring group NetBlocks both reported the outage, attributing it to government interference. Calls placed from Dubai to Iranian landlines and mobile phones were still connecting. In previous waves of unrest, similar blackouts were often followed by harsh crackdowns.

Pahlavi’s appeal marked a key moment for the protest movement, testing whether Iranians would rally around the son of the late shah, who fled the country shortly before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Demonstrators in recent days have openly voiced support for the monarchy — once punishable by death — underscoring the depth of anger driven by Iran’s economic crisis.

Pahlavi urged people to take to the streets at 8 p.m. local time on Thursday and Friday. When the hour arrived, chants echoed through neighborhoods across Tehran, witnesses said, including “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!” Others invoked the monarchy, shouting: “This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” Large crowds were visible in multiple areas of the capital.

“Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands,” Pahlavi said in a statement. “I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the [Revolutionary Guard] that the world and [President Donald Trump] are closely watching you. Suppression of the people will not go unanswered.”

Pahlavi has said he will outline further steps depending on the response to his call. His ties to Israel have drawn criticism in the past, particularly following the 12-day war Israel waged on Iran in June. While some protesters have praised the shah, it remains unclear whether those chants reflect support for Pahlavi himself or nostalgia for the period before the Islamic Revolution.

Iranian officials appeared to be preparing for unrest. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper posted a video online asserting that security forces would use drones to identify participants in the demonstrations.

Even so, authorities have not acknowledged the full scale of the protests, which flared across numerous locations on Thursday, including before the scheduled 8 p.m. rallies. At the same time, Iranian media reported casualties among security personnel.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said a police colonel died from stab wounds in a town near Tehran. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that gunmen killed two security force members and wounded 30 others in a shooting in Lordegan, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Separately, a deputy governor in Khorasan Razavi province told state television that an attack on a police station in Chenaran killed five people Wednesday night, roughly 700 kilometers northeast of Tehran.

Questions remain over why authorities have not yet unleashed a broader crackdown. Trump warned last week that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

That warning prompted a sharp response from Iran’s Foreign Ministry.

“Recalling the long history of criminal interventions by successive US administrations in Iran’s internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry considers claims of concern for the great Iranian nation to be hypocritical, aimed at deceiving public opinion and covering up the numerous crimes committed against Iranians,” it said.

Despite the rebuke, the US State Department has continued highlighting protest-related footage on the social platform X, including videos showing demonstrators renaming roads after Trump or discarding government-subsidized rice.

“When prices are set so high that neither consumers can afford to buy nor farmers can afford to sell, everyone loses,” the State Department said in one post. “It makes no difference if this rice is thrown away.”

{Matzav.com}

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