December 2025 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.

Since the beginning of the 2025–26 Iranian protests, the Iranian government has perpetrated widespread massacres of civilians, deploying both its own security forces and importing foreign militias to suppress public dissent nationwide. As of 25 January 2026, the total death toll estimates ranged from 6,488 people to upwards of ~36,500 people, including 209 government-affiliated military and non-military personnel, making these among the largest massacres in the modern history of Iran.