Version imprimableThe fighting spirit of the demonstrators and the speed with which the situation is evolving clearly show that this is not a passing reaction to the rise in the exchange rate. It is once again a deep social anger, rooted in decades of injustice, poverty, gender segregation and repression, that is being expressed. The bazaar strike, the closure of shops and the arrival on the scene of students mark a new stage in this fundamental movement that is shaking the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Workers’ unions such as Vahed, as well as teachers’ and pensioners’ associations, immediately threw their weight behind the movement.
At a time when official inflation is running at over 52%, the government is refusing to raise wages. This clearly means that the state budget is being financed on the backs of workers, pensioners, the unemployed and the most vulnerable. This means less care, less education, more marginalisation and an exhausted society. While poverty is exploding, the country’s leaders, and in particular the Leader Khamenei, are sitting on colossal fortunes.
On the surface, the authorities are trying to calm the protests, but in reality, repression is taking place on the ground. Once again, the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking to survive by means of the gallows and fear. The mullahs executed more than 1,922 prisoners in 2025, but that hasn’t stopped popular mobilisation. The courage of the demonstrators is immense and the protest continues unabated. Signs of the government’s weakness are already appearing. The head of the Central Bank has resigned, three university security chiefs have been sacked, the state has closed down administrations in 26 provinces and university courses are being switched to distance learning. And this could be just the beginning!
In the face of this dynamic, attempts at recuperation - particularly by monarchist currents - must be clearly rejected. They do not hesitate to organise a campaign of manipulation by changing the slogans on the videos that come out of Iran in order to make the protesters believe that they are in favour of the ‘monarchist’ solution. Supported by Netanyahu and Trump, the son of the Shah is not an ally of the people of Iran. His plan is authoritarian and ultraliberal. The people of Iran are not fooled. They did not overthrow one dictatorship to restore another. The choice is not between two forms of despotism, but between continuing a system based on injustice and building a future based on equality, social and democratic rights and dignity.
Solidarity between universities, workplaces, working-class neighbourhoods and urban peripheries is the key to transforming anger into an organised social force, capable of resisting repression, preventing any instrumentalisation and refusing to confiscate the movement.
The people of Iran need all the international solidarity of progressive forces. The NPA-l’Anticapitaliste stands shoulder to shoulder with the youth and workers of Iran. We give our full support to the people of Iran in their struggle against dictatorship, against the high cost of living and against injustice.
Montreuil, 1st January 2026
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.
