Widespread protests sweeping across Iran have entered a critical phase, laying bare the scale of public anger over economic hardship and political stagnation, while also reflecting a wider global reality shaped by the return of Donald Trump to the White House and his disruptive imprint on world politics.
What began as demonstrations against the sharp fall of the rial and the soaring cost of food, fuel and basic goods has broadened into a deeper rejection of political paralysis. From Tehran’s Grand Bazaar to provincial cities and industrial towns, protesters have chanted slogans that increasingly challenge the legitimacy of the system itself rather than policy failures alone.
Iranian authorities insist the situation is under control, but human rights groups and eyewitnesses speak of dozens killed and hundreds detained. Security forces have relied on tear gas, mass arrests and intermittent internet restrictions to contain the unrest, while officials point to foreign pressure and interference as aggravating factors. Full casualty figures have not been released.
Those claims resonate more strongly in 2026 than in previous protest cycles. Since Trump’s return to office, Washington has adopted a sharper, more openly coercive posture in global affairs. Iran has once again found itself a central target. Freshly tightened sanctions, tougher enforcement against oil exports and explicit threats of escalation have further constricted an economy already weakened by years of isolation, corruption and mismanagement. The result has been accelerating inflation, a collapsing currency and shrinking household purchasing power – conditions now driving people onto the streets.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has responded with promises of wage adjustments, targeted subsidies and reforms to the foreign exchange system. Supporters argue these steps may ease immediate pressure on struggling families. Critics say they are unlikely to succeed while sanctions bite deeply and structural weaknesses remain unaddressed, warning that short-term relief could give way to even higher prices.
Iran’s turmoil is unfolding against a backdrop of global unease over Trump’s assertive and often unpredictable foreign policy. His administration has openly interfered in the political trajectories of other states, from renewed pressure on Venezuela to pointed public commentary on Nigeria’s internal affairs, reinforcing the sense of a United States willing to shape outcomes far beyond its borders. In Europe, Trump’s revived rhetoric about acquiring Greenland – a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has unsettled allies and prompted firm pushback from Copenhagen, reopening uncomfortable questions about sovereignty; alliance loyalty and the limits of American power.
China, meanwhile, has watched warily as Washington couples economic coercion with strategic bravado, deepening global polarisation and encouraging rival blocs to harden their positions. Analysts say this atmosphere of confrontation has weakened multilateral diplomacy and normalised a world in which pressure, rather than consensus, increasingly defines international relations.
For Iran, the consequences are immediate and severe. Youth unemployment remains high, savings have been eroded by inflation and many citizens say they see no credible path to improvement through existing political channels. The protests have no central leadership, but their decentralised nature has made them harder to extinguish, flaring and subsiding in waves that suggest persistent volatility rather than a passing crisis.
At the heart of the unrest lies a rigid political system unwilling to contemplate meaningful reform. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and powerful institutions such as the Revolutionary Guard have made clear that fundamental political concessions are off the table, leaving limited economic adjustments and coercive control as the state’s main tools.
The most likely short-term outcome is an uneasy stalemate. Economic measures may temporarily calm the streets, and force may restore surface order, but neither addresses the deeper forces at work – an embattled society squeezed between internal stagnation and an international order reshaped by Trump’s hard-edged, interventionist presidency.
Whether the current protests fade or harden into a sustained challenge, they underline a stark reality for Iran in 2026: domestic stability is no longer separable from global power politics. In a world increasingly defined by unilateralism, contested boundaries and geopolitical pressure, Iran’s unrest has become both a national crisis and a symptom of a wider disorder now closely associated with Trump’s return to power.
