In December 2025, inflation reached 42.5 percent in the country as the Iranian rial lost around half its value against the dollar.
Several people have been killed during demonstrations in Iran over the nation’s ailing economy, according to accounts from Iranian media and rights groups on Jan. 1, with President Donald Trump warning Tehran against using force on protesters.
Rights groups and state-affiliated outlets have reported at least six to seven deaths nationwide since the unrest began earlier this week, although casualty figures could not be independently verified. The Fars news agency reported that three protestors were killed and 17 were injured on Jan. 1 in a police station attack in Iran’s western province of Lorestan.
Iranian state media reported that a local official in western Iran where deaths were reported warned that any illegal gatherings would be met “decisively and without leniency,” raising fears of further bloodshed.
One protester told the media outlet that refrigerators and pockets are empty, and people see themselves becoming poorer every day.
The protests have escalated as the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide unrest.
“The rioters entered the police headquarters around 1800 (local time) on Thursday … they clashed with police forces and set fire to several police cars,” according to Fars.
Responding to the government’s management of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices, shopkeepers began protesting on Dec. 28, 2025. Clashes between protestors and security forces have intensified since then.
Iran’s clerical rulers are dealing with Western sanctions that have devastated an economy already struggling with more than 40 per cent inflation. Also, Israeli and U.S. airstrikes in June 2025 targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure and military leadership have impacted the country.
“Refrigerators are empty. Pockets are empty. Every day, people see themselves becoming poorer,” one protester said.
Fars and rights group Hengaw reported deaths in Lordegan city, which is located in Iran’s Charmahal and Bakhtiari province.
In the western city of Kuhdasht, authorities confirmed one death, and Hengaw reported another death in the central province of Isfahan.
According to the state-operated IRNA news agency, a separate demonstration on Dec. 31, 2025, resulted in the death of a 21-year-old volunteer in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force.
Iranian news agency Student News Network blamed demonstrators for the Guard member’s death, referencing comments from Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Iran’s Lorestan province.
Trump on Jan. 2 warned Iran that if security forces “violently kill peaceful protesters,” the United States would “come to their rescue.” Writing on social media, Trump said the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go.”
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