Explore the unique factors driving the current Iranian protests and the people’s resistance.
As Donald Trump weighs his options on Iran, it’s clear that these protests are different from every other uprising in Iran since the 2009 « Green Revolution » following the rigged presidential election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
Every two or three years after that, there were massive street protests that ended with the inevitable crackdowns. Dozens of protesters were killed, and tens of thousands of demonstrators were arrested.
The 2019 protests over gas prices gave rise to the 2022 « Women, Life, Freedom » protests. What marked these popular uprisings was their narrow support among the population as a whole: the young, the educated, the middle class, and restive minorities looking to break their chains participated, while most of the country sat on the sidelines.
This time, it’s different. After turning off the internet and international phone calls, the regime imported fanatical Shi’ite militias from Iraq, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, to do their « wet work. » The results are sickening.
Estimates of the dead vary from a high of 12,000 dead from the anti-regime group, Iran International, to Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRII), who place the total number of dead protesters at a little over 1,200. Time Magazine reported figures may be as high as 6,000.
The difference this time is that the people are fighting back. At least 114 security personnel, including police and the Basij (morality police), have been killed, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) media reports. « More Iranian security officers have died during the current protests than in any other protest wave in Iran », according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
In the city of Kerman, the hometown of the late Qods Force leader Qasem Soleimani, a journalist reported, “At least 14 people were killed here on Thursday. But it hasn’t deterred anyone. People returned to the streets again tonight.”
Kerman; « Javidshah Javidshah » pic.twitter.com/DzfWakAl8D— Manoto Newsroom (@ManotoNews) January 9, 2026
The ISW believes the number of dead security personnel is much higher.
« The actual death count for Iranian security personnel is likely higher than the number that IRGC-affiliated media reported, given that CTP-ISW [Critical Threats Page] has observed reports of security personnel casualties in areas, such as Tehran Province, that IRGC-affiliated media did not include in its death count », the Institute reported.
