In the winter of 2025 to 2026, weeks before the war, protests over the collapse of the currency spread across Iran and turned against the Islamic Republic itself. The state put them down with gunfire, mass arrests and a shutdown of the internet that lasted months. The war that followed changed the ground under both sides: the state treats dissent as collaboration with the enemy, and the opposition is split over whether foreign bombs can bring freedom.
The wider confrontation, its history and each side's full account: Iran in regional and international confrontation.
Where it stands · September 2026
Courts are trying those arrested in January. In August ten were sentenced to death and several people were executed on charges tied to the protests or to helping the United States and Israel. A businessman who supported the protesters was jailed and his property seized. The streets are quiet.
What the dispute is about
Who speaks for Iranians. The state says it does, and points to the millions who mourned the leader killed by foreign bombs. Its opponents say a government that must shoot and hang to stay in place has answered the question itself. Between them is a population that has protested in 2009, 2019, 2022 and 2026, each time over a different spark and each time against the same system, and that also does not want to be bombed or ruled from abroad.