Trump pushes anti-government efforts in Iran

The protests in Iran began for a litany of reasons: a struggling economy, a corrupt government and leader, and a failure to properly fund public services all led to the demonstrations beginning on December 28. On that day, tens of thousands took to the streets in Iran’s capital city, Tehran. While initially, the government did not respond with violence, after more than a week of protests, Iranian security forces began responding to protesters with gunfire, reportedly killing more than 2,000 people in less than a week. Iranian hospitals are overwhelmed, and the violent actions have sent shockwaves across the world.

The killings make the protests in Iran the most deadly protests of 2026 so far, and one of the deadliest in the country’s history. The protests also come as relations between Iran and Israel, as well as the U.S., have become tense, with both the U.S. and Israel conducting military operations against Iran in 2025 under the guise of fighting terrorism. The government of Iran has also cut the internet country-wide, a common strategy used by Iranian officials during times of public unrest. The protests, which were triggered by Iran’s currency falling drastically on December 28, mark years of public frustration finally boiling over.

France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Finland and Denmark have all announced that they have invited Iran’s respective ambassadors to each country for a visit to their foreign ministries in order to formally object to the killing of civilians. Germany claimed to be shocked by the violence, while French diplomats have already condemned the killings to the news media. Alongside the U.S. 25% tariffs on countries dealing with Iran, the UK has imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting the finance, energy, transport, and software industries. While most nations have already publicly disapproved of the killings and begun to cut ties with Iran, some of Iran’s biggest trading partners have not.

Both Russia and China have condemned the U.S.’s interference in Iran, specifically the 25% tariff imposed by Donald Trump. Russia claimed the tariffs are an example of subversive external interference in Iran’s politics. Russia is one of Iran’s largest trading partners, along with China, Iraq, the UAE, Turkey, and Pakistan. Iran’s biggest exports are plastic and crude oil, and Iran trades nearly $15bn USD in goods with China every year. Some critics have noted that the U.S. sanctions, while putting pressure on the Iranian government, will also negatively impact the struggling economy that triggered the protests in the first place.  

With the death toll climbing into the thousands, the protests in Tehran mark the deadliest protests in the country’s history since the 1979 Iranian revolution, where more than 15,000 Iranians were killed or executed. According to Saudi-funded UK-based Farsi news channel Iran International has claimed that 12,000 Iranians were killed on January 8 and 9, citing medical data from Iran. U.N. human rights chief said on January 13 that the UN was horrified by the atrocities committed by the Iranian government on civilians, and that the cycle of violence must not continue, urging Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian to cease the attacks on protesters.