On Saturday night, the streets in Tehran started talking again. And they did it by shouting against power. Anti-government slogans, chants against the Islamic Republic, a climate of reckoning that Iran has not seen for at least three years. Despite the harsh repression, despite the almost total blackout of the Internet, the protest has returned to occupy public space, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
The regime immediately identified the external culprit: the United States. According to the Iranian authorities, the demonstrations – which broke out two weeks ago due to economic difficulties – were fueled by Washington and transformed into a political protest that openly calls for the ouster of the religious leader from power. A classic, almost ritual reading, which however does not erase the internal root of discontent.
Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise. According to the US NGO Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 116 people have died, almost double the estimates made a few hours earlier. Seven would be minors. Most of the people, the organization reports, were killed by live ammunition or pellets, often fired at close range. The victims also included 37 members of the security forces and a magistrate. The arrests, again according to the NGO, exceeded 2,600.
From the institutional front the tone is that of open conflict. The head of the national police, Sardar Radan, spoke of an “increased level of confrontation with the rioters” and claimed “important arrests”, ensuring that those mainly responsible for the unrest have been arrested. Words that sound like a warning, rather than a budget.
From the outside, the United States is watching and pressing. President Donald Trump said Washington was “ready to help” the protest movement, warning that Tehran risks “big trouble” if it continues its path of repression. The Iranian response was not long in coming: the speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, warned that any US attack would lead to a reaction against Israel and against the American military bases in the region, defined without hesitation as “legitimate objectives”.
Meanwhile, digital silence descends on the country. The internet blackout has lasted for more than 60 hours, according to independent monitor NetBlocks. A censorship measure which, the organization warns, represents “a direct threat to the security and well-being of Iranians at a crucial moment for the future of the country”. Translated: isolate the protest to extinguish it. It is an old technique, already seen, which the regime knows well.
But history teaches that the imposed silence does not always coincide with the end of the protest. Sometimes it’s just the pause before a new, harder, recovery. In Iran, today, the game is all here: understanding whether fear will win again, or whether the street will continue to speak.
