At Least 25 Killed in Iran Protests Over Currency Collapse

Protests that began in early January in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over the collapsing value of the rial and runaway inflation have spread rapidly to many provinces, and rights groups report that at least 25 to 29 people have been killed in the opening days. Counts vary among monitoring organizations and human rights networks, and an official consolidated death toll has not been published by Iranian authorities.

The Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported at least 25 people killed, including four under 18, and said more than 1,000 people had been arrested. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, another monitoring network working from abroad, has provided multiple tallies in recent dispatches, reporting at least 29 deaths over the last ten days in some updates and citing a higher figure of 35 in others. That network also put the number of arrests at roughly 1,200 to 1,203 as of early January. International news agencies have noted they could not independently verify all counts.

The demonstrations began among merchants and workers in Tehran’s historic bazaar, a long-standing economic and social barometer, before spreading to cities in western and southern Iran. Human rights monitors say unrest reached 27 of the country’s 31 provinces in the first week, though current demonstrations have not matched the nationwide scale of the larger 2022–23 protests. Those earlier unrest episodes were reported by human rights groups to have left more than 550 people dead and led to roughly 20,000 detentions.

Reports from multiple locations document serious clashes and the use of force. Rights monitors and local footage cited by international outlets show security forces firing tear gas at demonstrators in the Grand Bazaar. In several provincial towns including Azna, Marvdasht and Qorveh, rights groups said protesters were killed or seriously wounded. Footage and local reports from Malekshahi indicated the use of live ammunition and described chaos after direct fire, with at least five protesters killed there and about 30 wounded, according to those accounts.

Injury tallies varied. Human rights networks reported dozens of protesters wounded, figures range from about 51 injured to 64, many attributed to pellet and rubber bullets. Monitoring groups also said two members of security forces had been among the dead and that more than a dozen security personnel were wounded in some confrontations. Authorities have offered only partial statements and have not released a comprehensive casualty figure.

The protests underscore the intersection of acute economic pressure and long-standing political fault lines. The collapse in currency value and surging prices have eroded household purchasing power and reignited grievances across social groups, from bazaari merchants to urban workers. The fragmented reporting on deaths, injuries and arrests, and the lack of independent confirmation on the ground, complicate efforts by diplomats, humanitarian organizations and legal observers to assess compliance with international standards governing the use of force.

As demonstrations continue, the immediate questions for Iran’s authorities and the international community are transparency on casualty and detention figures and steps to address the economic drivers that have pushed citizens into sustained public protest.