Special to WorldTribune.com

By John J. Metzler, January 6, 2026

Political tremors are rattling Iran’s regime as nationwide protests shake the Islamic republic.

Widespread popular dissent is rooted both in spreading political opposition to the clerical dictatorship and discontent with draconian religious edicts. The latest outrage has been triggered by the country’s economic free fall.

For over a week, large demonstrations have filled the streets of the capital Teheran, and as importantly, provincial cities and towns across this large and varied land of 92 million people.

While political demonstrations are commonplace in Iran and often regime-orchestrated, what sparked the recent opposition has been the unfolding economic disaster.

This is the biggest jolt to the regime since September 2022 when the mass protests followed the arrest and death of Masha Amina from the “morality police” for not wearing the Islamic hijab veil correctly.

A powerful movement of “Women, Life, Freedom” shook the country for months protesting decades of female inequality. The hardline regime cracked down killing hundreds and arresting thousands. Despite international outcry, the Ayatollahs got away with it as usual.

These tectonic changes to Iran’s political order are rooted in growing resistance to the atrophied theological regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as much as the daily indignities such as female dress code, runaway inflation, and a near worthless currency.

The problems are widened by a natural drought which rations water supply. Protests have rocked over 100 cities in 26 of the country’s 31 provinces.

Current disorders started when the Bazari the shopkeepers in Teheran went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread to other parts of the country.

Traditionally the Bazari have proven a barometer of popular feeling and outrage; Initially this group of businessmen were instrumental in the revolution which toppled the Shah in 1979. During previous protests they stayed neutral. Now they’re on the leading edge of the movement for change of a deeply unpopular regime.

Oil revenues are dramatically down in the country, inflation rose over 40 percent in December alone, and sanctions have caused continued belt-tightening. What may be more of an indicator is that the crash of the currency, the Rial has reached dizzying downdraft levels. In 1978 before the collapse of the Shah, the once strong Rial stood at 70 to 1 US dollar. By 2008 the currency was 9,400 to 1 US dollar. By 2018 100,000 to 1 US dollar, and today the currency has evaporated, trading at 1.4 million to 1 US dollar! Such hyper-inflation has destroyed business, savings and eroded the small middle class.

Iran’s “moderate” President Massed Pezeshkian adopted an unusually candid tone, acknowledging that public anger is directed at the state itself and insisting that there’s “no need to blame America” for Iran’s internal failures. This includes endemic corruption and rife mismanagement.

Speaking separately President Donald Trump said, “If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.”

Fortunately, casualties and arrests have been relatively low given the regime’s pedigree for hardline violence. Nonetheless security forces have beaten women and fired rubber bullets into crowds of students and young demonstrators in violent clashes killing at least 19 thus far.

So, what to do?

• Encourage the opposition via radio broadcasts and focused social media outreach. Revive funding for RFE/RL/Radio Farda for Iran; Restore U.S. government support so it may continue to serve as a credible news source.

• Work with divided opposition forces. The exiled Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi remains the best choice as a respected force for Iran’s cultural continuity away from the nightmare of the Ayatollah’s half century rule. Offer the option for a referendum on Constitutional Monarchy to encourage a secular and prosperous state with women’s equality not a Mid-East pariah regime.

As Crown Prince Reza Shah stated, “the dawn of a new era in Iran is upon us. My brave compatriots are on the streets in cities and towns across our country, fighting for their freedom, risking their lives. The current regime has reached the end of the road.”

• Keep up the rhetorical political pressure on the regime from the United States, Canada and European states, and importantly key Asian and Latin American countries.

• Pursue a multitiered agenda in the United Nations; bring the Iran rights case to the Security Council, the U.S., France and the UK and many like-minded countries can keep the limelight on the crisis despite Russian and Chinese pushback. Sound-off in the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

Recent U.S. actions in Venezuela pose a stark warning to Iran’s regime that impunity may be running out.

  Political tremors rattle Islamic Iran: Is it finally the ‘end of the road?’