Hyperinflation has destroyed the country’s currency and Iranians can no longer afford basic goods and services. Protests in the streets have escalated and thousands are feared dead.
Iran is facing its most severe economic crises in decades, fueling nationwide protests that are thought to have already claimed thoussands of lives. Soaring inflation, collapsing purchasing power and the near‑worthless rial have pushed many Iranians into the streets, demanding accountability from the authorities. Experts warn that US sanctions, shrinking oil revenues and a dramatic currency crash are deepening the turmoil, while businesses struggle to operate. As political pressure mounts, international reactions — including new US tariffs— add further uncertainty to an already volatile situation. Meanwhile, Iranian women unveiled: A shift in hijab enforcement is growing.Across Tehran, women of all ages are openly defying compulsory hijab rules — a sign the Islamic Republic may have been weakened by the 12-day war with Israel.
Iran’s regime crushing protests in bloody crackdown
Protesters are putting their lives on the line in Iran as the state mounts a coordinated and brutal response to the unrest. As the death toll grows, hopes of outside help seem faint.
The field in front of Tehran’s Kahrizak Forensic Institute seems to be loaded with dead bodies. Amid widespread protests and a communications blackout, images of the site are only available in videos physically smuggled out of Iran or uploaded to the Internet via Starlink satellites.
“I would guess there are thousands dead, at any case,” an eyewitness who recently visited Iran told DW.
The man described going to Kahrizak with a friend to identify and retrieve his friend’s wife’s body.
“On the previous evening, you could hear automatic gunfire in the part of the city I was visiting. My friend and his wife were at a protest. The wife was shot,” he told DW.
It is impossible to know how many people have been killed in the Iranian protests, which started over two weeks ago. The internet has been down for days, and any communication with the outside world is severely limited.
An Iranian official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that some 2,000 people were dead. However, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization reported a death toll of at least 3,379 people on Wednesday. Activists believe that the actual number of protesters killed across Iran is much higher.
The Iranian authorities also detained over 10,000 people in the latest wave of protests. Government critics are worried that many of the detainees could be put on show trials and sentenced to death.
