Escalating Nationwide Protests and the Government’s Crimes Against Humanity

The nationwide protests that began on December 28, 2025 have, in recent days, undergone a qualitative escalation in several key respects. Following the government’s use of lethal force in small cities, large numbers of people from diverse social backgrounds took to the streets on Thursday, effectively reclaiming public space in major cities across the country, including Tehran and Mashhad. This qualitative shift came after Kurdish political parties issued a call for a general strike in the cities of Kurdistan, a call that was met with a decisive and widespread response from the people of Kurdistan, as well as from residents of several other cities.

Only hours after the Kurdish parties’ call, additional appeals were issued for demonstrations on Thursday and Friday, January 8th and 9th. On Thursday evening, the protests had begun in more than fifty cities nationwide, including multiple districts of Tehran, people once again poured into the streets in large numbers and openly expressed their rejection of the entire political system. In response, the government attempted to silence and isolate the protests by cutting off internet access and partially shutting down mobile phone networks. Despite these efforts, within a short period of time new videos, transmitted through a limited number of satellite connections, surfaced on Saturday, clearly showing that the protests were continuing and expanding in both large and small cities.

On Sunday, the circulation of shocking images of the bodies of those who had been killed on social media exposed the scale of a major crime carried out over the preceding days. The figures and reports now emerging about the extent of the violence perpetrated by the regime’s repression forces in various cities can undoubtedly serve as evidence to be presented to the international community, documenting crimes against humanity, crimes in which the Islamic Republic has long demonstrated a systematic and well-established pattern.

Another crucial point that must be kept in mind is that the current government is, in its very nature, the same regime responsible for the mass executions of 1988. Despite the growing momentum of the protests in this new phase, the Iranian people’s movement for the overthrow of the regime remains in its early stages. Any attempt to oversimplify the regime’s collapse, often promoted by far-right propaganda outlets, weakens the movement’s capacity to defend itself against the regime’s complex, organized, and deeply entrenched apparatus of repression.

The Islamic Republic is ultimately destined to fail and collapse; however, it is essential to avoid fostering naive or false expectations about the easy or imminent removal of religious fascism ruling Iran. Under the current conditions, achieving full political leadership of the movement and establishing organic and effective links with the protests in the capital and major cities is possible only through unity, coordination, and sustained cooperation among democratic and pro-freedom forces.