The repression in Iran does not end with the protests

BeirutIran has entered its fifteenth day of protests with the streets still ablaze and communications virtually cut off. Since Friday, the country has been under a digital blackout that blocks internet access and even phone calls and SMS messages. However, videos from cities like Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Qom, which managed to circumvent censorship, show crowds returning every night, burning cars, and massively deployed security forces.

According to the organization Iran Human Rights, at least 192 protesters have died since the start of the demonstrations. Other activist networks raise the figure and warn of hundreds of gunshot wounds, overwhelmed hospitals, and morgas Overwhelmed. The lack of independent information makes it difficult to verify the true extent of the repression, but fears of a large-scale crackdown are growing.

Meanwhile, state television has broadcast funerals of members of the security forces in Gachsaran, Yasuj, and Isfahan. Police chief Ahmed-Reza Radan has spoken of "significant arrests" of protesters and described the protests as "riots organized by foreign enemies."

What began as a reaction to the rising cost of living has transformed into an open challenge to the theocratic system Established after the 1979 revolution, the chants no longer demand reforms, but the fall of the regime. In several cities, protesters are attacking official symbols and religious figures, while new generations, with no memory of the revolutionary period, are leading the protests.

One scene encapsulates the current climate. In a viral video filmed on a Tehran street before the total blackout, a Shiite cleric tells pedestrians that he opposes a "criminal and murderous government" and calls on the population to rise up. Around him, a woman shouts "Death to Khamenei!", the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The dissemination of these images reflects an unprecedented rupture, and there are sectors within the clergy itself that are publicly questioning religious authority. In several cities, slogans against clerical authority are being repeated, and attacks on seminaries and mosques are being reported.

Internal polls leaked months ago indicated that over 70% of Iranians support separating religion and politics, a complete rebuke of the ayatollahs' regime. Today, this trend is becoming visible in the public sphere. The regime is responding by uniting. Khamenei accuses "saboteurs" directed from abroad. President Masoud Pezeshkian is asking the population not to allow "provocateurs" to disrupt order. The message is clear: "There will be no concessions."

Dodging Repression

The repression is felt at all levels. In working-class neighborhoods, residents are reporting raids on their homes, vehicle checkpoints, and increased surveillance near universities and cultural centers. Authorities are trying to prevent the formation of local committees that could organize protests or disseminate alternative information. However, residents are improvising alert and shelter networks, and young people are resorting to creative methods to evade surveillance: they communicate by radio and visual signals, block streets with burning tires, and clandestinely document abuses. The economy is grinding to a halt: the price of meat has almost doubled, and many businesses are closing before nightfall to avoid confrontations.

From Washington, Donald Trump has declared his support for the protesters and threatened to respond if Iranian authorities "start killing their own people." Secretary of State Marco Rubio has emphasized that "the United States stands with the brave Iranian people and is closely monitoring the regime's abuses." The UN expressed its "deep concern" over the escalating violence and warned of the risk of a "massacre under the cover of a media blackout."

The threat from the United States and Israel

Israel is closely monitoring the crisis. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar called on the European Union to consider designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and expressed his support for "the Iranian people's struggle for freedom." On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that "the Tehran regime is at one of the most fragile moments in its recent history" and warned that Israel will not allow internal instability to be used to advance military or nuclear programs. Without directly mentioning the protests, he assured that his government is following the situation "minute by minute" and that any attempt to shift the focus of the crisis to the region will be met with a firm response. Israel remains on high alert and is not ruling out defensive actions in the face of any escalation, especially after the June war, in which Washington and Tel Aviv attacked Iranian targets.

The political nature of the protests is intensifying. Although it still possesses a considerable coercive apparatus, the regime is unable to contain the internal divisions or the pockets of resistance that resurface each night. Two weeks after the first spark of mobilization, Iran remains without a visible solution. The protests have ceased to be merely a demand for basic necessities and have become a crisis of legitimacy that already ranks among the deepest political challenges since 1979.