Iran International
Tehran’s response to the protests this week has looked markedly different, whether out of calculation or necessity, with Iranian media reporting on the unrest, the government striking a conciliatory tone and the internet remaining largely accessible.
The protests, triggered by rising prices, quickly moved beyond economic grievances. Slogans once again targeted the ruling system itself, with demonstrators openly calling for its downfall.
In both 2019 and 2022, when similar chants echoed across Iran, authorities moved swiftly to shut down the internet, cutting off communication with the outside world and crippling domestic news coverage. Protesters were rapidly branded as enemy foot soldiers, and state media framed the unrest almost exclusively as a foreign-backed security threat.
This time, the state broadcaster appears to have adopted a more cautious line, quoting hardline outlets on the causes of the protests while limiting its own commentary, perhaps to avoid provoking demonstrators—or to reclaim an audience long lost to social media and foreign-based Persian-language outlets.
‘Right to protest’
State television presenters have repeatedly asserted in recent days that “protesters have every right to protest rising prices.”
That framing mirrors President Massoud Pezeshkian’s recent assertion that “protesters do not need a permit to take to the streets under the Iranian Constitution.”
The statement was always legally correct, but no senior official or major outlet had previously expressed it so plainly.
At a December 31 press conference, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani reiterated that the administration recognizes the public’s right to protest, adding that Pezeshkian has pledged to listen to citizens and resolve their problems.
The new central bank governor, Abdolnasser Hemmati, issued sweeping promises: to control inflation, end privileges for well-connected individuals and address banking irregularities, including unauthorized withdrawals from government accounts.
Hemmati previously held senior economic posts under Presidents Rouhani and Pezeshkian without achieving those goals, but on December 31 he insisted he now has “full authority” and is determined to deliver.
Cities shut down
At the same time, the government has taken steps to sap momentum from the streets.
Beginning December 31, schools and offices in 26 of Iran’s 31 provinces were closed for four days, a move widely seen as an attempt to replace open unrest with a fragile calm—particularly as the closures were announced amid unusually clear weather in the capital, rather than the pollution that has forced similar shutdowns in recent months.
As heavy smog over Tehran briefly lifted after months, some protesters remarked—almost incredulously—that Mount Damavand was visible again on the northeastern horizon, an unintended symbol of dissent long presumed dormant but never extinguished.
Yet an ominous sign looms as well.
Ali Fadavi, the IRGC’s deputy commander, has been replaced by Ahmad Vahidi, a figure known for harsher methods and strict loyalty to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Reports already suggest that shootings at demonstrators and arrests increased on Thursday, the fifth day of unrest.
It remains to be seen whether Tehran sustains its current posture if unrest deepens—or reverts to its familiar factory settings of internet disruption and brute force.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.