Repression is escalating in Iran, on the tenth day of a protest movement that broke out against the backdrop of hyperinflation. Hundreds of demonstrators, including a large number of minors, have been arrested or injured, while mobilization continues across the country and is moving toward further escalation in confronting the security forces.

Published on: 01/06/2026 - 18:59

Kimia Haddadian (17 years old), Kourosh Khairi (13 years old), and Amir Hossein Karimpour (16 years old)... three names among dozens that appear on the Instagram page of Iranian journalist Nazila Maroofian, where pictures of young Iranian demonstrators, believed to have been arrested by Iranian security forces, appear.

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The journalist writes about another girl who went missing: “This child was shot and apparently arrested during the demonstrations in the Naziabad area (Tehran), around eight o’clock in the evening, on January 4, 2026.” Regarding Sogand Mansouri, 14 years old, she added: “She was wearing a gray jacket, and there is still no information available about her health condition or where she is being held. (…) If anyone has information about her, please inform us immediately.”

Nazila Maroofian, 25 years old, has been a refugee in France since 2023. She was previously arrested in 2022 during the major wave of protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, especially after she conducted an interview with the father of the young Iranian woman who died after she was arrested by the morality police for “poor wearing of the hijab.”

From Paris, the journalist, who remains in contact with protesters inside Iran, continues to report news of this new wave of protests, at a time when Iranian security forces have intensified their operations to suppress the demonstrators.

This social movement began on December 28, with the strike of major merchants in Tehran and other major cities, in protest against hyperinflation and deteriorating economic conditions. But it quickly took a political turn, with chants escalating demanding the fall of the Islamic Republic.

The protests later spread to universities, while an increasing number of Iranian youth take to the streets daily. The Iranian Teachers Union, for its part, confirms that a number of high school students have been “violently” arrested in several regions of the country, while their families remain without any news about them.

Read also: Iran confirms that it will not tolerate “rioters” and Trump threatens it with a “strong strike” if the killing of demonstrators is repeated

In a statement, the Iran Human Rights Non-Governmental Organization (IHRNGO), based in Norway, expressed its concern about the fate of the young demonstrators who were arrested, especially minors. The organization reported that a number of them are being held in the central prison in Isfahan, where more than 150 people were transferred. A number of detainees were injured and taken to the prison clinic, including three teenagers: Soroush Azermehr (16 years old), Payam Aminzadeh (17 years old), and Saman Shahamat (16 years old), who were arrested at the time and were suffering from head and back injuries.

In the prison of Qom, the conservative city that is the cradle of religious universities and located south of Tehran, a 17-year-old teenager, Soroush Javaidi, lost consciousness due to severe bleeding. The organization warns that “it is not known whether he received the necessary medical care after being admitted to the prison clinic.” It also indicates that "on January 3, about a hundred detainees were transferred to the central prison in Qom, where they were all crammed into one hall."

Shooting with AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles

According to a tally published by the US-based non-governmental organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on January 4, about 990 people have been arrested since the protests began on December 28. Official data indicate that at least 12 people were killed, including members of the security forces.

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However, Iran Human Rights Watch estimates that the toll is much higher, as it said ten days after the start of the protests that “at least 27 demonstrators were killed by gunshots and other forms of violence practiced by security forces in eight provinces.” It has been confirmed that five of the dead are children, noting that more than a thousand people have been arrested.

According to the organization Iran Human Rights, Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles were used, and DSHK heavy machine guns were also likely used, to suppress residents who took to the streets on January 3 in Malekshahi District, an area with a Kurdish majority. Hundreds of people were injured and arrested in various parts of the country, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization.

The intensity of the protest movement escalated

According to a statistic conducted by the French news agency based on official data and media reports, the protests affected, to varying degrees, at least 45 cities, most of which are small and medium-sized cities, located mainly in western Iran.

Read also: What do the slogans of the recent protests in Iran reveal and what are their implications?

25 out of 31 governorates in the country are now involved in the movement.

France 24 correspondent in Iran, Siavush Ghazi, says: “Every time, only tens or hundreds of people participate in the demonstrations, but the movement is expanding, spreading, and becoming more radical day after day.”

In a widely circulated video clip, demonstrators in the city of Hamedan, in western Iran, including many women, appear attacking a member of the Basij of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on January 4, after he opened fire on them. The clip shows how several demonstrators attacked his family and stripped him of his weapons, while some of them intervened to protect him from being killed under beatings.

Other clips circulating on social media show similar scenes, as protesters are no longer afraid to clash with the elements of repression, so they throw stones at the riot police, or throw gasoline at a militia member before burning him while he is riding his motorcycle.

Sometimes, demonstrators kneel in the street as a sign of peaceful protest in front of security forces' bikes, without fear of being stopped.

An implicit green light to escalate violence against demonstrators

For his part, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, announced on Monday, January 5, that there will be “no leniency” with “rioters,” while at the same time acknowledging the legitimate right of citizens to demonstrate to demand economic rights.

The Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who remained silent in the early days of the protests, delivered a speech on Saturday. In front of a crowd of supporters in Tehran, he said the protesters' economic demands were "right", but that the "rioters" must be "put back in their place."

The "Iran Human Rights" organization believes that "the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic implicitly gave an order to suppress the demonstrators, by describing them as 'rioters' and 'enemy agents'." The organization considers this position to constitute an undeclared authorization from the highest levels of power to escalate violence against protesters.

French text: Bahar Makoy | Arabic text: Haneen Younis

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