Iran has entered 2026 with growing unrest on the streets that has already caused dozens of deaths and thousands of arrested protesters by Iranian security forces. The uprisings started in December 2025 because of the historical drop of the Iranian rial and surge in inflation.
Despite the merchants and shopkeepers (the so-called “bazaar”) being considered as the conservative supporters of the Ayatollah’s regime, at the moment they are the major force of the protesters that poses a serious threat to the incumbent elites. The mottos of the protests have shifted from calling to stabilise the currency and the prices to the “death to the dictator” (i.e., Ali Khamenei) and “death to the Islamic Republic”.