OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:16 PM – Thursday, January 1, 2025
Multiple people have reportedly been killed as protests erupt across Iran over the collapse of the national currency and increasingly high inflation rates.
According to Newsweek, at least six people were killed on Thursday as protesters continue to clash with security forces over economic woes such as increasing inflation rates, which have soared to 40%, along with the collapse of the nation’s currency.
The nationwide protests, now in their fifth day, are the largest in three years, with reports of fatalities in cities including Lordegan, Kuhdasht, and Isfahan.
Video footage from Lordegan shows large crowds gathering as shots can be heard. Local rights groups claimed that two protesters were killed by security forces, who allegedly opened fire on the demonstrators.
The regime’s response to the protests has taken a softer tone, allowing media coverage of the protests while state broadcasters appear sympathetic to the reasoning behind the outrage.
Previous crackdowns on protests have resulted in authorities shutting down communications and labeling protesters as foreign agents, demonstrating the shift in tone.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly acknowledged the government’s responsibility for the nationwide outrage, proclaiming, “If people are dissatisfied, we are to blame—not America or anyone else.”
“Our failures are the result of poor management,” Pezeshkian added.
One local shopper in the Iranian suburb of Karaj told Iran International that “Khamenei has spent over four decades chasing war, missiles and chanting, ‘Death to this or that.’ Now, we can’t even afford rice.”
Meanwhile, American officials expressed support for Iranian protesters in a social media post, calling on Iranians to take a stand against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“The people of Iran want freedom. They have suffered at the hands of the Ayatollahs for too long. We stand with Iranians in the streets of Tehran and across the country as they protest a radical regime that has brought them nothing but economic downturn and war,” wrote U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz on Monday.
The nationwide protests come as President Donald Trump threatened to “knock the hell out of” Iran if it rebuilds its nuclear weapons or ballistic missile programs, after the United States “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
“I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” Trump stated on Monday. “We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
“If they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup. The consequences will be very powerful. Maybe more powerful than the last time,” Trump added. “Iran may be behaving badly. It hasn’t been confirmed. But if it’s confirmed, look, they know the consequences.”
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