An excerpt from a video filmed during the funeral of Amirhossein Khodayari-Fard, a 22-year-old shot dead during the demonstrations in Kouhdasht, showed the presence of government forces as well as the hostile reaction of those attending, on January 2, 2026. @VAHIDONLINE/TELEGRAM
For the sixth consecutive day, on Friday, January 2, several Iranian cities saw demonstrations against the Islamic Republic, including Zahedan, the capital of the Sistan and Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran. The latest protest movement, which initially targeted the rapid devaluation of the rial against the dollar and euro, quickly took on a political dimension, with slogans calling for the end of the Islamic Republic.
Launched on December 28, 2025, at the initiative of Tehran bazaar merchants, the protest has since spread to smaller cities. It now mobilizes some of the most disadvantaged and marginalized populations by the central government. The protests, still scattered and limited in scale, have reached at least 32 cities nationwide.
Repression, initially contained, especially in major cities like Tehran and Shiraz, has intensified as the movement spread to areas farther from the center. At least eight protesters – men ranging in age from 15 to 37 – have been killed by law enforcement in the provinces of Fars (south), Lorestan (west), Isfahan (center) and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (southwest), according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran. As of January 1, at least 119 people had been arrested and 33 others injured, reports the Center for Statistics of Human Rights Defenders in Iran (HRANA). The actual figures are likely to be much higher.
