Iran Unfiltered - NIAC's periodic digest tracking the latest from Iran ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
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Dear John,

As protests in Iran continued tonight, we are gravely concerned by credible reports of expanding internet shutdowns and severe throttling, which have historically coincided with violent crackdowns and mass arrests. Cutting off connectivity isolates communities, prevents families from reaching loved ones, and obscures abuses at moments when transparency can be lifesaving.



NIAC stands in solidarity with the Iranian people as they exercise their fundamental right to self determination and peaceful protest. We are closely monitoring the response from Iranian authorities and condemn all violations of the fundamental rights of the Iranian people.

NIAC is also monitoring our government's response closely and warning U.S. policymakers that military intervention – whether from Washington or elsewhere – do not support the Iranian people. The Iranian people’s struggle for self-determination must not be met with coopting or exploitation. History has shown that external interference only deepens suffering and undermines the very freedoms Iranians are demanding.

NIAC will continue to track developments closely, surface credible information, and stand up for fundamental rights while warning policymakers against external escalation. Please find our latest updates from our Iran Unfiltered newsletter below and, as always, we are interested to hear any thoughts you have.

In Solidarity,

Jamal Abdi

President, NIAC

Below is our latest Iran Unfiltered analysis on how these protests are evolving and what this moment may signal in the days ahead.

Iran’s Protests Escalate as Strikes Spread and Internet Access Restricted [[link removed]]
Iran’s protest movement entered its twelfth consecutive day on Thursday (January 8) amid a rapidly evolving and highly sensitive environment shaped by expanding street mobilization, coordinated strike actions, and an intensifying state effort to restrict visibility through widespread internet disruptions. The convergence of these dynamics has made independent verification increasingly difficult, even as available evidence points to a protest wave that is broader in geographic scope and more socially embedded than in its initial phase.

A large volume of videos circulated on social media and shared with Persian-language outlets show notable gatherings in multiple major cities, including Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Abadan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamedan, Kerman, Aligudarz, and smaller towns such as Lumar and Qaemiyeh. In Tehran, footage from neighborhoods such as Ariashahr, Narmak, Azadi Street, Yousef Abad, Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard, Saadat Abad, and Jannat Abad shows crowds chanting slogans, including “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Khamenei.”

Over the past two days, the former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi issued a public call urging coordinated nighttime street mobilization and chanting, a move that influenced protest slogans and timing in some locations. While there is no reliable data on how many were motivated by this call, contra intra-country conditions including economic grievances and the response of security services, monarchist slogans were evident alongside more general anti-government slogans, including “This is the final battle, Pahlavi will return” and “Long live the Shah.”

At the same time, multiple reports from large urban centers—particularly Tehran—indicate that police forces have often avoided direct confrontation with protesters, relying instead on surveillance, presence, and selective arrests rather than sustained street fighting. In several videos from Tehran, law enforcement is visibly maintaining distance or monitoring gatherings without engaging physically, suggesting a degree of restraint that contrasts with harsher tactics observed in smaller cities and peripheral regions. This has reinforced perceptions that the state is attempting to contain protests without triggering mass urban escalation, at least in the capital, while applying heavier force elsewhere.

In Mashhad, videos from Vakilabad Boulevard depict large and growing crowds, with eyewitness accounts describing how protesters joined from side streets and intersections, swelling the numbers as marches progressed. Protesters were seen dismantling surveillance cameras and chanting both anti-regime and monarchist slogans. In Tabriz, demonstrators gathered in central areas chanting “Death to the dictator” and “Don’t be afraid, we are all together,” while in Abadan, footage shows tense standoffs between protesters and police, including stone throwing, fires used to block advancing units, and the sound of gunfire. In Ilam Province—particularly in Abdanan and Lumar—crowds again poured into the streets, with chants explicitly rejecting clerical rule and attacks reported on a chain store and a bank. In Qaemiyeh, Fars Province, protesters were filmed pulling down a statue of Qassem Soleimani, continuing a pattern of symbolic assaults on state authority.

Parallel to street mobilization, seven Kurdish political parties, along with women’s organizations and networks linked to political prisoners, called for a general strike across Kurdish-majority regions. Reports indicate that more than 50 cities and towns across Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, and Ilam provinces participated, with widespread closure of shops and markets in cities such as Sanandaj, Mahabad, Urmia, Bukan, Kamyaran, Dehgolan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and Abdanan. This coordinated economic action followed a wave of arrests targeting Kurdish political and civil activists and represents one of the most organized strike efforts seen during the current protest cycle.

Historically, monarchist currents—and Reza Pahlavi personally—have not enjoyed strong support among Iran’s ethnic minority groups, particularly Kurds, Baluch, and parts of the Arab population, where memories of centralization, cultural repression, and security crackdowns during the Pahlavi era remain salient. The prominence of Kurdish-led strikes in this phase of the protests therefore does not likely indicate a realignment toward monarchism in these regions but rather a convergence of opposition rooted primarily in economic marginalization, political repression, and regional grievance.

At the same time, among other segments of the population—particularly urban middle-class groups, parts of the bazaar, and socially exhausted citizens seeking a recognizable alternative to the Islamic Republic—Pahlavi appears to currently hold a relative advantage over other opposition figures. This advantage may stem less from deep ideological commitment than from name recognition, symbolic clarity, and the absence of competing opposition leaders with comparable visibility or organizational reach. In the fragmented opposition landscape, Pahlavi’s messaging has resonated with those who prioritize regime change but see other opposition factions as either disorganized, marginal, or politically inaccessible.

The state response has continued to calibrate between restraint and violent force in different locations. In some locations, security forces used tear gas to disperse largely peaceful gatherings, as seen in Hamedan, while in others—particularly outside major cities—videos document arrests by plainclothes forces, beatings, and live fire. State-affiliated media reported the killing of a police officer in Malard, allegedly due to a stabbing, and described clashes in Lordegan as armed attacks on police, claiming that some protesters were carrying military and hunting weapons. Such narratives are likely to be used to justify harsher security measures and to portray the protest movement (or elements of it) as violent, despite the overwhelmingly civilian and grievance-driven nature of participation.

On Thursday evening, NetBlocks reported near-total internet shutdown conditions in Tehran and other regions, following earlier complete outages in Kermanshah Province and severe throttling elsewhere. Multiple internet service providers were simultaneously unreachable. This blackout has dramatically reduced real-time documentation, increased the risk of unreported abuses, and made it substantially harder to assess turnout, casualty figures, and the scale of arrests. As in previous protest cycles, the shutdown appears aimed at disrupting coordination while obscuring state actions from domestic and international scrutiny.

Casualty and arrest figures are widely believed to be rising, though precise numbers remain contested under blackout conditions. Reports indicate additional deaths and injuries, alongside mass arrests, particularly in Kurdish regions and protest-heavy urban neighborhoods. These figures should be treated as minimum estimates, not comprehensive totals.

Beyond the streets, dissent has increasingly spread into cultural and professional spheres. Iran’s Cinema House issued a sharply worded statement condemning violence against protesters, arguing that citizens now facing repression are the same people who stood united against foreign threats, particularly regarding the 12-day war, only weeks earlier. The statement rejected the legitimacy—legal, moral, and religious—of violent suppression and declared solidarity with an exhausted society without institutional channels for expressing dissent.

Twelve days into the unrest, Iran faces a protest environment that is broader, more decentralized, and more opaque than earlier phases. Pahlavi’s call has acted as a mobilizing signal for some segments of society without resolving deeper questions of leadership, representation, or cross-ethnic legitimacy. The Kurdish general strike has added a powerful economic and regional dimension, while uneven policing in major cities and intensified repression elsewhere point to a calibrated but fragile security strategy. With internet access throttled and social pressure continuing to build, the coming days may prove decisive in determining whether the protest wave stabilizes, fragments, or escalates into a deeper national rupture.

See below our previous statements and analysis on the current protests:

Statements:

* NIAC Statement on Ongoing Protests in Iran [[link removed]]


* NIAC Statement on President Trump’s Threat to Intervene Amid Protests in Iran [[link removed]]



Iran Unfiltered:

* From Currency Collapse to Street Confrontation: Iran’s Protests Enter a High-Risk Phase [[link removed]]


* Iran Moves to End Preferential Exchange Rates Amid Inflation, Protests, and Competing Economic Assessments [[link removed]]


* Iran’s New Protest Wave Escalates as Economic Shock Turns Into Nationwide Unrest [[link removed]]


* Iran Protests Enter Sixth Day Amid Fatalities, Arrests, Economic Triggers, and Escalating Domestic and International Tensions [[link removed]]


* Trump Threatens Iran Intervention Amid Ongoing Protests [[link removed]]


* Third Day of Protests in Iran Shows Deep Public Anger but Uncertain Scale and Trajectory [[link removed]]


* Iran Faces Converging Economic and Political Crises as Currency Collapse Fuels Protests [[link removed]]
Support NIAC's important work by making a contribution today.
Donate → [[link removed]]
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