Matthew Dannoun

Protesters in London take part in a rally in solidarity with demonstrators in Iran, calling on the UK government to support Iranians as anti regime protests continue.  Credit: Martin Pope / SOPA Images/Sipa USA The protests in Iran — initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living — have evolved into a movement against the regime.  Source: ABACA / Mahsa / Middle East Images Tehran, Iran – Bolder protests are being recorded across Iran amid an increasing deployment of regime security officers as the regime's efforts to contain an unravelling economic situation fall flat. Footage circulating online showed huge protests on Tuesday night in the city of Abdanan, in the central province of Ilam, where several major demonstrations have taken place over the past week. Thousands of people, from children accompanied by parents to the elderly, were filmed walking and chanting in the streets of the small city while regi...

A social media account run by the Foreign Ministry appeared to express support on Thursday for the mass cost-of-living protests in Iran, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from publicly commenting. A post on the Foreign Ministry’s Farsi-language account displayed a cartoon featuring a lion and sun — symbols that were featured on the Iranian flag until the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with the lion’s paw resting on an hourglass. At the bottom of the hourglass is the emblem on Iran’s current flag. “The rise of Iranian lions and lionesses to fight against darkness,” read the post in Farsi. “Light triumphs over darkness.” The growing demonstrations, focused on the cost of living and Iran’s ailing currency, are spreading across the country, and saw at least six people killed on Thursday. This sentiment was echoed by Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, who posted a video in support of the protests and predicted that they would lead to the downfall of the regime. ‘...

Protesters have shut down major cities in Iran for most of this week, angry about the country's economy and alleged corruption and mismanagement from its theocratic government. The protests began when merchants in the capital, Tehran, shut their shops in response to a currency crash, with the Iranian rial sinking to a record low against the US dollar on December 29. They have since spread across other demographics and cities, with people demanding Iran's leaders end the country's clerical rule and hold free elections. Several people have been killed in the unrest, including three protesters in an attack on a police station in the province of Lorestan, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Authorities have also confirmed one death in the western city of Kuhdasht, and rights group Hengaw reported another death in the central province of Isfahan. "These protests are a hunger revolution, this is truly a bread revolution," Farideh* (not their real name), tol...