2017–2018 Iranian protests

Public protests took place in several cities in Iran beginning on 28 December 2017 and continued into early 2018. The first protest took place in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city by population, initially focused on the economic policies of the country's government; as protests spread throughout the country, their scope expanded to include political opposition to the theocratic regime of Iran and its longtime Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The Iranian public showcased their fury in the protests with a wide repertoire of chants aimed at the regime and its leadership. According to ''The Washington Post,'' protesters' chants and attacks on government buildings upended a system that had little tolerance for dissent, with some demonstrators even shouting "Death to the dictator!"—referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—and asking security forces to join them.

The protests marked the most intense domestic challenge to the Iranian government since the 2009 presidential election protests. The year 2018 hosted the most serious and biggest opposition demonstrations since 2009, shaking the very pillars of this regime. However, these protests differ from the Green movement in participants, causes, goals, and chants. Unlike 2009, the 2017–2018 protests remain leaderless and disorganized. While some analysts suggest the protests are a result of unfavorable economic policies adopted by the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, others say that dissatisfaction with the theocratic regime and the Supreme Leader are the actual causes of the unrest. Rouhani acknowledged on 8 January 2018 that "people had economic, political and social demands".

According to Iranian authorities, protests turned violent in some parts of the country, and Iranian state television reported that the protesters attacked police stations and military personnel and installations, and started fires. As of 2 January 2018, at least twenty-one protesters and two security force members had been killed. Additionally, 3,700 demonstrators were arrested according to Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist lawmaker from Tehran, though official figures were much lower., Sheena McKenzie, CNN, 9 Jan 2018 On 5 January 2018, four special rapporteurs of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Iranian government to acknowledge and respect rights of protesters and end its blocking of the Internet.

In a backlash against the protests, thousands of government supporters staged pro-government rallies in more than a dozen cities across Iran.

Background

The current Iranian regime came into power following the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the Pahlavi dynasty overthrown in favor of a theocratic Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.

Since 1989, Ali Khamenei has ruled Iran as Supreme Leader, making him the second-longest serving head of state in the Middle East (after Oman's Sultan Qaboos), as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.Iran’s supreme leader blames US-Israeli plot for protests
, ''Financial Times'', 9 January 2018

The Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who was re-elected in 2017, had promised many changes such as a richer economy and open foreign policy but he has little power to change compared to Khamenei in the Iranian government.

In 2006, following international concerns regarding the government's nuclear program, a comprehensive, international sanctions regime was imposed on Iran. In 2015, Iran negotiated a deal with the great powers of the world in exchange for economic relief. Many Iranians hoped relief from sanctions would result in economic prosperity; however, benefits have not reached the average Iranian. Instead, the benefit from sanctions relief mostly went to state firms and Setad controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, estimated by Reuters at $95 billion in 2013. In 2017, according to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, 33% of Iranians lived below the poverty line, and the gap between the rich and poor has deepened. CNN's Hamid Panah argued that these distributional developments in the economy helped stoke the protests. Recent economic hardships have appeared to incite economic protests and shine light on government corruption.

In order to deflect criticism about the economy, Rouhani had been complaining for several weeks about government money going to religious institutions, which are seen as the power base of the hardliners; according to international media reports, analysts believe that hardliners started the protests as a means to embarrass Rouhani. For many Iranians, development had been slow despite the president's promise to restore the economy.

Protesters registered their opposition to cuts to fuel and cash subsidies, contained in the 2018 budget proposal unveiled in mid-December, which caused widespread anger, with the hashtag #pashimanam ("we regret" .e., we regret our vote for Rouhani going viral across the country. The generous government funding of the Revolutionary Guards remained unaffected, and there were large increases for religious foundations, which are not required to declare how they spend their funds, and are "tied closely to powerful clerics and often serve as machines for patronage and propaganda to build support for their authority." Furthermore, protesters sought an explanation as to why the government had spent a lot of money elsewhere in the Middle East.

The 2017-2018 protests were the largest protests in Iran since the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.

Timeline

The protests began in Mashhad on December 28, 2017, and spread to over 140 cities in every province in Iran over a two-week period.. The demonstrations were started by crowds protesting across Iran, including in Mashhad, the second-most populous city. Protests spread to over 70 towns and cities, including Nishapur, Kashan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Kashmar, Rasht, Isfahan, Arak, Bandar Abbas, Ardabil, Qazvin, Hamedan, Sari, Babol, Amol, Shahinshahr, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Khorramabad, Zanjan, Gorgan, Zahedan, Urmia, Dorud, Yazd and Shahrud. According to CNBC, there was widespread protest in 80 cities in Iran.

In some demonstrations, protestors provocatively chanted "Reza Shah, bless your soul", a reference to