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Iranians have returned to the streets in a wave of anti-government unrest that began in late December 2025 and has since spread into January 2026, reaching major cities across the country. What started as strikes in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over collapsing livelihoods quickly morphed into mass demonstrations with increasingly political slogans and a demand for change.
The revolt is rooted in economic collapse and decades of misrule: the rial has plummeted, inflation has eaten real wages, and shopkeepers and market workers who once formed the backbone of Iranian civil society are now striking. These market closures were not spontaneous holiday strikes — they were the flashpoint of long-simmering anger at a regime that has prioritized foreign adventurism over the bread-and-butter needs of its people.
Instead of addressing grievances, Tehran’s rulers resorted to the old playbook of censorship and brute force, cutting the internet nationwide in early January and unleashing security forces on protesters. The blackout — a deliberate move to hide the scale of the crackdown — was followed by reports of lethal force, mass arrests, and entire neighborhoods sealed off as the regime tried to choke the news flow.
Credible accounts emerging despite the blackout describe horrific abuses in custody, mass detentions, and even massacre-level violence in towns like Fardis, underscoring how far the Islamic Republic will go to retain power. These aren’t isolated incidents but a pattern of repression that has intensified as ordinary Iranians press for dignity and basic economic security.
As conservatives who believe in liberty and the rule of law, we should be clear-eyed: the Iranian regime is not a partner for stability but a predator on its own people, and democratic nations must stop treating Tehran as a normal diplomatic interlocutor when it behaves like a butcher. Moral clarity matters — silence or appeasement only emboldens tyrants while ordinary people pay the price. (This is not a partisan plea; it is a defense of universal human dignity.)
There are real strategic stakes here: the blackout and violent suppression not only crush dissent but also destabilize economies and regions, creating fertile ground for extremists and chaos that spill beyond Iran’s borders. Western policymakers who shrug off these atrocities under the banner of “stability” are failing both moral and national-security tests; standing for freedom abroad often reduces threats at home.
Americans and free peoples worldwide should pay attention and demand that their leaders act with resolve — not platitudes — to protect human rights, hold Iranian officials accountable, and support channels that keep information flowing to those under siege. The cause of the Iranian demonstrators is the timeless cause of liberty, and those who care about freedom must not look away while a brutal regime tries to crush its own citizens.
