Defiant Iran Rises: Regime Retreats as Protesters Shatter Fear

Paul Riverbank, 1/7/2026Iranians shatter fear, taking to the streets as regime strongholds falter amid deepening unrest.

And this isn’t just the capital’s drama, by any means. By the time the dust settled last night, protest crowds had spread across fifty towns and cities—more, possibly, depending on who’s counting. Telegram feeds and unsteady phone videos capture people filling the public squares from big, restless Tehran to the unexpectedly stubborn alleys of Aligudarz. It has the sense of a fever breaking. “People feel they have nothing anymore and have reached a breaking point,” observes Ali Safavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The formula’s changed: this time, the regime’s thugs run before the crowds, not the other way around.

Violence, though still present, is less indiscriminate than in uprisings past. Human rights groups now estimate around 25 fatalities over nine days—a ghastly number, but nowhere near the mass killings of previous years. In Malekshahi, gunfire broke the night, but the aftermath was maybe even more shocking: a hospital treating wounded demonstrators reportedly came under fire. Amnesty International condemned the move, labeling it a “violation of international law.” Perhaps uncomfortably aware of global scrutiny, authorities in Tehran have promised yet another official investigation.

For many Iranians, money is at the heart of all this. Inflation and a free-falling rial have forced basics out of reach; people see their leaders funneling billions into alliances in Syria or Yemen while shops at home struggle to stay open. From behind his fruit stand, a shopkeeper in Tehran simply said, “We have nothing left to lose.” It feels like a throwaway line, except you hear it again and again.

The old bastions of hardline loyalty seem to be wavering, a first in these cycles of dissent. Some in the street are chanting the name of Reza Pahlavi, the Shah’s exiled son. Tehran’s grand bazaar—never known for snap decisions—has closed its doors in sympathy with demonstrators. Whispers of internal fracture float through the city. Security men, who might have cracked heads without hesitation a few years back, look over their shoulders now; reportedly some have dropped their batons and fled, especially in two cities in western Iran where, according to Safavi, “people are actually celebrating in the streets.”

In response, state media and officials have tried to muddy the waters: some protesters, they claim, have legitimate grievances; others are conveniently branded as foreign provocateurs. But the numbers aren’t shrinking. The crowd grows, and it is less afraid by the day. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president-elect, praised the protesters in Malakshahi and Abdanan for forcing regime enforcers to retreat, echoing the pride felt far beyond those towns.

The protests aren’t going unnoticed abroad—certainly not in Washington. Donald Trump fired off a hard warning: Ready, he said, to act if Iran turned to mass slaughter. Senator Lindsey Graham added a threat of his own: Iran, “act at your own peril.” Yet in D.C., while policymakers push for “maximum support” and urge the White House to tighten sanctions or unlock Iranian assets for strikers, few are calling for direct military action. The prevailing wisdom: a new Iran must come from within, not from American boots on the ground—though the administration is weighing how to support activists’ communications, starve the regime of cash, and label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as terrorists.

The web—less under control than the regime would like—has filled with desperate appeals. There’s the photo showing a woman holding up a sign to police: “Trump, a symbol of peace. Don’t let them kill us.” It speaks volumes about the mood: hopeful, if only barely, and terribly aware of what could come next. Meanwhile, Tehran abounds with rumors that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei might soon flee for Russia, his family and fortune in tow.

With every dusk, the number of demonstrators grows—it’s pain and frustration, but also a crack in the door some thought would never open. No one can say with certainty whether the regime is living its final days or not. But after all the years of clampdowns and broken dreams, this moment in Iran feels genuinely different, perhaps closer to a reckoning than ever before.

The noise rolling down Tehran’s boulevards these nights is impossible to miss. Here’s a city, and a country, where “Death to the Dictator” isn’t whispered anymore—it’s yelled into the dark, bouncing off walls from Qom to Mashhad, two cities long thought loyal to Iran’s rulers. What were once regime strongholds are now erupting: videos show Qasem Soleimani’s banners torched and riot squads backpedaling through debris-strewn lanes.And this isn’t just the capital’s drama, by any means. By the time the dust settled last night, protest crowds had spread across fifty towns and cities—more, possibly, depending on who’s counting. Telegram feeds and unsteady phone videos capture people filling the public squares from big, restless Tehran to the unexpectedly stubborn alleys of Aligudarz. It has the sense of a fever breaking. “People feel they have nothing anymore and have reached a breaking point,” observes Ali Safavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The formula’s changed: this time, the regime’s thugs run before the crowds, not the other way around.Violence, though still present, is less indiscriminate than in uprisings past. Human rights groups now estimate around 25 fatalities over nine days—a ghastly number, but nowhere near the mass killings of previous years. In Malekshahi, gunfire broke the night, but the aftermath was maybe even more shocking: a hospital treating wounded demonstrators reportedly came under fire. Amnesty International condemned the move, labeling it a “violation of international law.” Perhaps uncomfortably aware of global scrutiny, authorities in Tehran have promised yet another official investigation.For many Iranians, money is at the heart of all this. Inflation and a free-falling rial have forced basics out of reach; people see their leaders funneling billions into alliances in Syria or Yemen while shops at home struggle to stay open. From behind his fruit stand, a shopkeeper in Tehran simply said, “We have nothing left to lose.” It feels like a throwaway line, except you hear it again and again.The old bastions of hardline loyalty seem to be wavering, a first in these cycles of dissent. Some in the street are chanting the name of Reza Pahlavi, the Shah’s exiled son. Tehran’s grand bazaar—never known for snap decisions—has closed its doors in sympathy with demonstrators. Whispers of internal fracture float through the city. Security men, who might have cracked heads without hesitation a few years back, look over their shoulders now; reportedly some have dropped their batons and fled, especially in two cities in western Iran where, according to Safavi, “people are actually celebrating in the streets.”In response, state media and officials have tried to muddy the waters: some protesters, they claim, have legitimate grievances; others are conveniently branded as foreign provocateurs. But the numbers aren’t shrinking. The crowd grows, and it is less afraid by the day. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president-elect, praised the protesters in Malakshahi and Abdanan for forcing regime enforcers to retreat, echoing the pride felt far beyond those towns.The protests aren’t going unnoticed abroad—certainly not in Washington. Donald Trump fired off a hard warning: Ready, he said, to act if Iran turned to mass slaughter. Senator Lindsey Graham added a threat of his own: Iran, “act at your own peril.” Yet in D.C., while policymakers push for “maximum support” and urge the White House to tighten sanctions or unlock Iranian assets for strikers, few are calling for direct military action. The prevailing wisdom: a new Iran must come from within, not from American boots on the ground—though the administration is weighing how to support activists’ communications, starve the regime of cash, and label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as terrorists.The web—less under control than the regime would like—has filled with desperate appeals. There’s the photo showing a woman holding up a sign to police: “Trump, a symbol of peace. Don’t let them kill us.” It speaks volumes about the mood: hopeful, if only barely, and terribly aware of what could come next. Meanwhile, Tehran abounds with rumors that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei might soon flee for Russia, his family and fortune in tow.With every dusk, the number of demonstrators grows—it’s pain and frustration, but also a crack in the door some thought would never open. No one can say with certainty whether the regime is living its final days or not. But after all the years of clampdowns and broken dreams, this moment in Iran feels genuinely different, perhaps closer to a reckoning than ever before.