Explained: The protests that have shaken Iran since 1979

From the overthrow of a monarchy to mass uprisings led by women and youth, Iran’s post-revolutionary history has been punctuated by waves of protest. Each movement has reflected changing social pressures — political repression, economic hardship, and demands for personal freedoms — while also revealing the enduring resilience of the Islamic Republic’s coercive state apparatus.

The 1979 revolution that reshaped the Iranian state

Modern Iran’s protest tradition begins with the mass demonstrations of the late 1970s that toppled Shah “Mohammad Reza Pahlavi”. Students, oil workers, clerics and urban middle classes rallied against authoritarian rule, corruption and Western influence.

The Shah fled in January 1979, and by February, “Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini” returned from exile to establish the Islamic Republic. What followed was not liberalisation but the consolidation of a hard-line Shiite theocracy. Thousands were executed in the early years, while the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s militarised society and crushed the space for mass dissent.

Student unrest and the 1999 campus protests

After a decade of relative quiet, protests resurfaced in 1999 when students at Tehran University demonstrated against press restrictions and the killing of dissidents in the so-called “chain murders” of intellectuals.

A violent crackdown by security forces inside university dormitories triggered days of unrest. At least three people were killed and more than a thousand detained. Though limited in scale, the protests exposed deep frustrations among Iran’s youth and signalled the limits of reform within the system.

The Green Movement of 2009 and the stolen vote narrative

Iran’s most significant post-revolutionary challenge came after the disputed re-election of President “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad” in 2009. Reformist candidates and millions of supporters alleged widespread electoral fraud, giving rise to the “Green Movement”.

For months, vast crowds filled streets across Iran demanding political accountability. The state responded with force: dozens were killed, thousands arrested, and opposition leaders placed under house arrest. The movement ultimately failed to achieve systemic change, but it permanently altered relations between society and the state, deepening mistrust in electoral politics.

Economic anger and the protests of 2017–18

A new pattern emerged in late 2017, when demonstrations erupted in provincial towns rather than major cities. Rising food prices, unemployment and proposed cuts to cash subsidies fuelled anger among working-class Iranians.

Unlike earlier reformist-led protests, these rallies directly targeted the entire political establishment. Security forces again cracked down, killing more than 20 people and arresting hundreds. Analysts saw these protests as evidence that economic grievances had become as destabilising as political ones.

The 2019 fuel protests and the internet blackout

In November 2019, the government announced a sudden spike in subsidised fuel prices. The decision triggered one of the deadliest protest waves in the Islamic Republic’s history. Banks, fuel stations and government buildings were torched as unrest spread nationwide.

Authorities responded with overwhelming force, reportedly killing over 300 people, and imposed a near-total internet shutdown to prevent mobilisation and information flow. The episode demonstrated both the depth of public anger and the state’s willingness to use extreme measures to maintain control.

Mahsa Amini and the gendered revolt of 2022

In September 2022, protests erupted after the death of “Mahsa Amini”, a 22-year-old arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules. United Nations investigators later found Iran responsible for the “physical violence” leading to her death.

What followed was unprecedented. Women publicly removed headscarves, young people led street demonstrations, and slogans directly challenged the authority of Supreme Leader “Ali Khamenei”. A months-long crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. Yet acts of everyday defiance — especially by women refusing compulsory hijab — continue.

Economic collapse and protests after regional conflict

More recent unrest has been driven by economic freefall. As sanctions tightened and Iran emerged weakened from a brief but intense war with Israel, the rial collapsed to historic lows, reportedly touching 1.4 million to the US dollar.

Protests that followed reflected a familiar pattern: economic despair morphing into political dissent. While smaller in scale than 2022, they underscored how external pressures, domestic mismanagement and regional conflict intersect to fuel instability.

Why protests persist despite repeated crackdowns

Across five decades, Iran’s protest movements have differed in leadership, geography and demands. Yet a common thread runs through them: a population repeatedly testing the boundaries of a rigid political system.

Each wave has been met with repression rather than reform, reinforcing a cycle of uprising and crackdown. While the Islamic Republic has survived every challenge so far, the persistence of protest — from students and workers to women and ethnic minorities — suggests that the underlying tensions shaping Iran since 1979 remain unresolved.