2020s in Iran

The 2025–2026 Iranian protests are a series of nationwide demonstrations against the government of Iran that began on 28 December 2025 amid a deepening economic crisis. The unrest followed a sharp depreciation of the Iranian rial, rising inflation, and widespread shortages linked to international sanctions and government mismanagement. This event has been the largest uprising in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, spreading to more than 200 cities across the country. The ensuing crackdown, reportedly carried out under orders by Ali Khamenei and senior officials to use live fire on protesters, resulted in massacres that left thousands of protesters dead, making them the largest massacres in modern Iranian history.

Iran and Israel have been engaged in a proxy conflict since 1985. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria, assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists, and directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria. In 2024 the proxy war escalated to a series of direct confrontations between the two countries, and in June 2025, they fought a 12-day war, involving the United States.

protests and revolutions in South and Southeast Asia in the 2020s

separatist/religious insurgency being waged against the government of Iran

overview of Iran-related events during the year of 2026

overview of Iran-related events during the year of 2020