Protests Continue Across Iran Amid Crackdown and Internet Outage

We apologize that this article was released late due to a scheduling issue.

Protests in Iran continued into their second straight week amid a massive internet outage and threats of a looming crackdown.

The demonstrations initially began back in December after a spike in inflation, leading to widespread discontent among the people. Over the last two weeks, the protests escalated into a wider expression of anger and unhappiness over the country's current social, political, and economic state, quickly turning violent in some areas.

Many of the demonstrations included chants like "death to the dictator," referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but authorities were forced to intervene. Local reports mentioned hearing gunfire and sound bombs, designed to scare others away, while others saw buildings like homes and mosques, along with various vehicles, bombed and set ablaze.

The protests are due to a wider, changing sentiment against the Iranian government, which many believe has failed to provide their citizens with adequate necessities and resources to help the country thrive. Because of this, people have begun to revolt against Khamenei's regime, sending the nation into chaos.

Pro-government protests have also taken place, though– in some areas, people began to host demonstrations supporting Khamenei, leading to clashes between pro- and anti-government citizens on the streets.

As a response, all state-affiliated news channels have been shut down, and internet has been blacked out for days across Iran. Authorities have also prevented calls and messages from coming into the country while blocking intra-country communications, stopping protesters from organizing further demonstrations via technological means. However, several organizations were able to communicate with Iranians through Elon Musk's Starlink satellites, which continued to provide services despite the outages.

Several countries, particularly members of the European Union, have spoken out against authorities' violence against protesters and condemned Khamenei's response, and US President Donald Trump also asserted that the United States is watching the situation. Trump also hinted at a future US intervention if the violence continues, mentioning that "we'll start shooting, too" and that he plans to "hit them very, very hard where it hurts."

According to human rights groups, at least 45 people have been killed in the police response to the protests, and they are predicted to continue for quite some time. Nevertheless, a change in the Iranian government still seems unlikely, as Khamenei continues to hold an iron grip over local politics, but Iran's future is still unknown.

Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): During the World War II, German tank drivers would drive their vehicles over camel droppings, thinking it would bring them good luck.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): The real workout starts when you want to stop. (Ronnie Coleman)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Innocuous (adj, ih-NAH-kyuh-wus) - Innocuous describes either something that is not likely to bother or offend anyone (as in “an innocuous comment”), or something that causes no injury, or is otherwise considered harmless (as in “an innocuous prank”).

In a Sentence: The reporter asked what seemed like an innocuous question, but it prompted the candidate to storm off, abruptly ending the press conference.

Image credit to Getty Images