Nationwide protests in Iran have rapidly escalated into one of the bloodiest crackdowns the country has seen in decades, stirring uneasy comparisons to the turmoil that preceded the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
What began as demonstrations over soaring prices and the collapse of the rial has, within days, spread across cities and provinces. Reports from activists and videos circulating online — before authorities throttled the internet — suggest casualty figures that surpass those of more recent uprisings, including the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
The scale and intensity of the unrest evoke memories of 1978, when repeated cycles of mourning and protest brought millions into the streets and ultimately forced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to flee Iran. In that earlier period, confrontations between demonstrators and security forces grew steadily more violent, targeting symbols of the state and foreign influence. The chaos culminated in the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from exile and the creation of the Islamic Republic under his doctrine of “Guardianship of the Jurist.”
The aftermath of that revolution was brutal: mass executions of former officials and dissidents, the imposition of mandatory hijab laws, years of internal repression, and a devastating eight-year war with Iraq. The memory of those years still looms large over Iran’s ruling clerics — and increasingly shapes their response today.
State television has recently aired footage from the violent early 1980s, when the government crushed armed opposition groups. Officials have revived the term “mohareb,” or “enemy of God,” to describe some detainees — a charge that carries the death penalty and recalls the mass executions of 1988. Pro-government rallies have echoed old slogans once directed at the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, signaling a deliberate effort to frame today’s protesters as existential enemies rather than disgruntled citizens.
At first, President Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to signal openness to compromise. Authorities dismantled a controversial subsidized exchange system and offered small monthly cash payments to households battered by inflation. But as demonstrations grew, the state reverted to familiar tactics: cutting internet access, blocking international calls, and deploying security forces in what witnesses describe as a live-fire crackdown.
Why this wave of unrest has turned deadlier than recent ones remains unclear. Journalists face heavy restrictions, and official casualty figures are scarce. Yet analysts point to two major factors. First, the protests center on economic collapse — an issue that cuts across ideological, ethnic, and religious lines in a country of 85 million people. Second, the apparent breadth of the demonstrations may have alarmed authorities already rattled by recent regional conflicts and internal discontent.
Unlike in late 1978, when the shah hesitated to unleash full force against massive Ashoura processions, today’s leadership has shown little public restraint. It has not acknowledged the true size of the protests, while organizing large pro-government rallies and accusing the United States and Israel of orchestrating the unrest — claims made without evidence.
There are major differences from 1979: Iran is now isolated by sanctions, its society is younger and more connected, and foreign governments have reacted quickly with condemnation. Still, the echoes of the revolutionary era are unmistakable. Whether this latest explosion of anger fades or grows into something larger, the government’s own rhetoric suggests it fears a familiar and dangerous historical pattern — one it is determined, at almost any cost, to prevent from repeating.