Iran ground to a near-standstill Wednesday as businesses, universities and government offices closed under a government-ordered shutdown amid protests caused by a growing political and economic crisis.
Video footage circulating online and shared by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) shows intense clashes between protesters and security forces in cities including Shiraz, Isfahan, Kermanshah and Tehran.
In the videos, protesters chant anti-regime slogans and confront security forces in crowded streets.
Footage included scenes of screaming and apparent gunfire, with demonstrators throwing objects and shouting, “Death to the dictator” and “Proud Arakis, support, support.”
Additional footage shared by MEK shows crowds chanting, “Death to Khamenei!” and “Shame on you, shame on you!” as anger appears to spread across the country, with a particular focus on bazaar-led protests in Tehran.
Some of the most dramatic scenes were reported in the city of Fasa in south-central Iran. Video circulating online shows demonstrators hurling objects at the gates of a government complex and shaking them until they opened.
Opposition groups also reported that protesters stormed the governor’s office, prompting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces to open fire, per Reuters.
Military helicopters were seen flying over the city, apparently to intimidate residents and prevent the unrest from spreading. --->READ MORE HERE
Iranian protesters are bringing the regime to halt over the cost of living crisis plaguing the Islamic Republic — with $1 now worth 1.4 million Iranian rials.
The demonstrations, which started earlier this week, have spread to Iran’s rural areas, where residents are facing the hardest blows in the face of Iran’s ailing economy.
While President Masoud Pezeshkian has signaled his willingness to negotiate with protests, the leader admitted that there’s not much he can do when Iran’s rial currency has plummeted to record lows.
The failing economy led furious consumers and shopkeepers in Tehran to launch protests aimed at lawmakers’ mismanagement, with the demonstrations spreading across Iran on Thursday.
Economists and reporters had long warned officials of the cost of living crisis afflicting the nation, with Iran International highlighting the rial’s plummet in November when it found that local favorite Tarom Hashemi rice was costing the average person up to 4 million rials per kilogram — or $3.56 per pound.
That price represented a 230% surge from the same time last year, with similar increases afflicting other popular goods as consumer price inflation rate soars to 48.6%.
“[Ayatollah] Ali Khamenei has spent over four decades chasing war, missiles and chanting, ‘Death to this or that.’ Now we can’t even afford rice,” one shopper in Karaj told Iran International.
Even cheap gasoline, which Iranians view as a birthright, had seen a spike in December that triggered outrage and forced the government to implement new subsidies to calm the masses.
The protests — which are centered on the all-important bazaars where most local buy their daily goods — have now shut down businesses, universities, and government offices across the country, with people turning Khamenei’s chants against him with shouts of, “Death to the dictator.” --->READ MORE HERE
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