Overview
- Demonstrations that began with traders at Tehran’s largest mobile‑phone market over a plunging rial and soaring inflation have spread to dozens of cities, especially in western provinces such as Lorestan and Chaharmahal‑va‑Bakhtiari.
- Iranian media and rights group Hengaw report multiple fatalities in cities including Lordegan and Asna, with tallies varying by source and further deaths contested.
- State outlets say a 21‑year‑old in Kuhdasht was a Basij member killed by protesters, a claim disputed by Hengaw and relatives who say he was a civilian shot by security forces.
- Tehran has signaled talks with traders and ordered economic steps under President Masoud Pezeshkian while deploying heavy security, making arrests, and closing schools and public institutions in some areas.
- The protests have taken on a sharper international dimension after Israel’s Mossad publicly encouraged Iranians to demonstrate and Iranian security officials warned that any U.S. intervention would destabilize the region.