As much of the world celebrated the start of a new year, night fell hard on three Western towns where the final hours of 2025 and the dawn of 2026 were marked not by celebration, but deadly gunfire.
As Iran steps up a deadly crackdown on nationwide demonstrations, some analysts warned that if US President Donald Trump does not act on his vow to protect protestors, the unrest he helped galvanize may be stamped out.
Iranian authorities have intensified efforts to choke off information and curb unrest by enforcing a nationwide internet shutdown, confiscating satellite dishes, and seizing footage from private security cameras to identify protesters, sources say.
As Tehran faces its sharpest internal challenge since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, the ruling elite’s ability to withstand sustained popular protests now rests not only on domestic coercion but increasingly on backing from Moscow.
Tehran on Monday escalated its public warnings to Washington, mooting retaliation for any attack while dismissing US president Donald Trump's pledges to protect protestors even as reports emerged of quiet diplomatic outreach intended to avert war.
Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown has completely cut off public access to online platforms since January 8, while many state-linked and security-affiliated media outlets have continued operating on Telegram.
Tehran on Monday conducted large pro-government rallies in several cities intended to counter the nationwide protests challenging its rule, in a strategy it has deployed against previous bouts of mass unrest ultimately crushed by deadly force.
Protests continued in Tehran and in northern Iran on Sunday despite a near-total internet blackout, as security forces used lethal force nationwide and reports from activists and medical sources pointed to hundreds, possibly thousands, killed.
A widely shared image of a young Iranian woman using a burning portrait of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to light a cigarette has gone viral as a symbol of defiance in Iran’s latest protests.
As protests continue across Iran under a near-total internet shutdown, a viral clip showing a cleric calling for the Islamic Republic’s overthrow has fueled debate over the role of the clergy and broader shifts in public attitudes.
Iran's security forces are using lethal force against protesters nationwide, informed sources told Iran International, with preliminary estimates pointing to mass casualties as a sweeping crackdown unfolds amid a near-total internet shutdown.
Tehran is signaling no retreat in the face of escalating protests, issuing fresh threats and hardening its rhetoric even as unrest continues across multiple cities.
Nationwide protests in Iran stretched into their 13th consecutive day on Friday as demonstrators returned to the streets for a second night following a call by exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, with authorities enforcing a sweeping internet blackout and threatening severe punishment.
The Islamic Republic has entered a decisive rupture, with intensifying protests and internet blackouts pointing to a government increasingly reliant on force — dynamics that senior Western officials and analysts suggested may mark the beginning of an endgame.
Internet experts are warning that Iran’s sweeping nationwide internet blackout is being used to shield lethal crackdowns on protesters, cutting off evidence of state violence as unrest continues across the country.
In a speech on Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei left little doubt that Tehran intends to confront the current wave of protests with force rather than concession.
Dozens of people have been killed in protests across Iran in recent days, according to human rights groups and witness accounts, with the full scale of casualties from Thursday night still unknown after authorities imposed a nationwide internet blackout.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday warned US President Donald Trump that he would be brought down, as he spoke about protests and accused foreign-backed forces of trying to destabilize Iran.
Millions of Iranian protesters filled the streets across the country on the 12th day of nationwide protests, with human rights groups saying at least 42 people including five minors have been killed so far.
The idea that Iran could change course through a shift at the top—without the collapse of the structure itself, and with a pragmatic figure opening up to the world—rests on a false assumption about how power actually works in Tehran.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s authorities against killing protesters amid nationwide demonstrations on Thursday, praising Iranians as “brave people.”
It began with metal shutters dropping in Tehran. At two neighboring shopping centers, shopkeepers on Dec. 28 pulled down their doors as security forces moved in, and the first chants rose from the corridors into the street.