Tehran, Jan 8 (.) Strikes and demonstrations have spread like wildfire across Iran, carrying on well into their 12th day, as Kurdish political parties on Thursday called for a general walkout, prompting widespread shop closures in Kurdish regions and coordinated protests in dozens of cities, as the unrest entered a more organised and confrontational phase.
Businesses shut across parts of western Iran while street rallies were reported from cities including Isfahan, Kerman, Lahijan and Hamadan.
The walkout marked a shift from sporadic protests to collective economic action, as activists sought to disrupt daily life and sustain pressure on the authorities beyond street clashes alone.
Momentum built after a video address by exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, who urged Iranians to protest from their homes and neighbourhoods as well as on the streets. The message circulated widely online, drawing tens of millions of views ahead of Thursday’s action, as per Iran International.
As mobilisation gathered pace, internet access deteriorated sharply across multiple cities, with Iranian media reporting slow speeds and repeated outages affecting both mobile and fixed-line networks. Despite the disruptions, chants backing Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, were heard in several locations.
Images shared online showed a heavy security presence nationwide. In the central city of Arak, large numbers of security forces were filmed assembling inside the grounds of Imam Ali high school, with dozens of motorcycles and vehicles parked in the courtyard.
The site is previously noted to have been used to stage forces during earlier waves of unrest, including the nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.
Casualties and arrests continue to rise as the Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, reported at least 36 people have been killed since the protests began, including 34 demonstrators and two members of the security forces.
More than 2,000 people have been arrested nationwide, according to rights groups, which include children, with an Iranian lawmaker earlier confirming that children and teenagers were among those detained.
Abdolvahid Fayazi, a member of parliament’s education and research commission, acknowledged the arrests, and downplaying their severity, said “Of course, the judiciary will deal with them based on the rights of children, teenagers and young people in the Islamic Republic and there is no cause for concern.”
Protest actions carried up to late evening, continuing well into the night, showing little signs of stopping despite the massive crackdown.
In Isfahan, demonstrators burnt posters and banners featuring Mullahs, openly making their frustrations with clerical rule evident.
During one such incident in the city of Fardis, in Alborz province, protesters unveiled a banner which read “Until all mullahs are not buried, this country won’t prosper.”
In the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, protesters set fires and chanted, “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran,” reflecting anger over the state’s regional priorities amid the Islamic Republic’s dire economic straits.
In Khorramabad, shopkeepers joined the strike by closing their stores, underscoring how the unrest has spread beyond street protests into sustained economic resistance.
With labour action, internet blackouts and growing defiance across ethnic and geographic lines, Iran’s unrest is spiralling more into full-blown chaos, with observers noting the demonstrations to be in a volatile state, likely entering into a decisive phase.
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