Yesterday I cautioned that the loss of two relatively minor Kurdish cities to anti-regime forces wasn’t a sign that the fall of the regime was imminent. However, today things seem to be getting much spicier, with reports that Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, was under protestor control.
Livemap snapshot? Sure, why not?
Hard to tell whether those areas not showing protests are free of them, or whether we just lack information. One reason for that lack? The regime has shut down the Internet across the nation.
Huge crowds of protesters have been marching through Iran’s capital and other cities, videos show, in what is said to be the largest show of force by opponents of the clerical establishment in years.
The peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and the second city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, which were not dispersed by security forces, can be seen in footage verified by BBC Persian.
Later, a monitoring group reported a nationwide internet blackout.
Protesters can be heard in the footage calling for the overthrow of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late former shah, who had urged his supporters to take to the streets.
It was the 12th consecutive day of unrest that has been sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and has spread to more than 100 cities and towns across all 31 of Iran’s provinces, according to human rights groups.
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) has said that at least 34 protesters and eight security personnel have been killed, and that 2,270 other protesters arrested.
Norway-based monitor Iran Human Rights (IHR) has said at least 45 protesters, including eight children, have been killed by security forces.
BBC Persian has confirmed the deaths and identities of 22 people, while Iranian authorities have reported the deaths of six security personnel.
On Thursday evening, videos posted on social media and verified by BBC Persian showed a large crowd of protesters moving along a major road in Mashhad, in the country’s north-east.
Chants of “Long live the shah” and “This is the final battle! Pahlavi will return” can be heard. And at one point, several men are seen climbing on an overpass and removing what appears to be surveillance cameras attached to it.
Another video showed a large crowd of protesters walking along a major road in eastern Tehran, while in the north of the city a small gathering was heard chanting “Long live the shah” and “Death to the dictator” – a reference to Khamenei.
Protesters were also filmed chanting “Long live the shah” at a main square in the northern city of Babol.
It came not long after Reza Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution and lives in Washington DC, had called on Iranians to “take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands”.
Are the mullahs ready to topple? I remain unconvinced, but it does appear more likely than yesterday.
And we’re creeping closer and closer to President Trump and allies thinking it’s time to give them a nudge.
Tags: Ali Khamenei, Benjamin Netanyahu, Borazjan, Bushehr, Foreign Policy, Internet, Iran, Iran 2026 Uprising, Jihad, Mashhad, Qasem Soleimani, Reza Pahlavi, Tehran, video
thanks for the post. there’s not a lot of information out there on the situation, so I appreciate your articles.
“While he would be an unquestionable improvement over the Mullahs, restoring the Pahlavi monarchy is not a course I would have expected or advised.”
Patience, Grasshopper.
“Zwischenzug” an in-between move, is a chess tactic where a player makes an unexpected move that creates a new threat, forcing the opponent to respond before executing the expected move, usually a recapture. This tactic can change the dynamics of the game and often leads to a significant advantage.
Reza Pahlavi is the bridge leading to a Constitutional Convention.
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It appears Elon enabled free Starlink for Iran the other day, so stuff continues getting out to X.
The BBC has now totally banned any mention of the Iran protetsts in the UK.
Europe an Starmer want to ban “X.”
Remember the French harbored Ayatollah Khomeini just as they harbored Haj Amin al Husseini the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who spent WWII in Berlin broadcasting Jew, British and American hatred all during the war. He escaped just before the war’s end. The French took him in and protected him and then let him go to start the anti Israel movement in 1948 in Egypt. His nephew was Yasser Arafat – born in Cairo.
The French governmnet under Macron are NOT on the Iranian people’s side in this.
I keep hearing that the BBC has banned mention of Iran, but if that’s the case, the people running their website haven’t gotten the word, as there’s a big story about it on the front page.
I’m hopeful, but I’ll believe the mullahs have been toppled when they’re really gone.
News reports Iran is importing Hamas, Hezbollah, and Isis fighters is worrisome since they’d be more likely fire on the populace if the police and military buckle.