Iran Grinds To A Halt As Several Killed & Wounded, Including IRGC Member, Amid Raging Protests

Reuters and other international outlets have reported several people killed amid unrest in Iran overnight into Thursday, as the large-scale economic-driven protests which have swept multiple cities reach the fifth consecutive day.

“The semi-official Fars news agency and rights group Hengaw reported deaths in Lordegan, a city in western Iran,” Reuters writes. “Authorities confirmed one death in the western city of Kuhdasht, and Hengaw reported another death in the central province of Isfahan.”

At least one among the dead is reported to be a government security force member, as demonstrators clash with police, and amid some reports of possible live fire being used to quell the unrest.

“A member of Iran’s security forces was killed during a fourth day of protests in the country, which have been sparked by a currency collapse, officials have said,” BBC reports.

“Citing regional chief justice Saeed Shahvari, Iran’s judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency said Amir Hessam Khodayari Fard was killed in the city of Kouhdasht, in the western Lorestan province, on Wednesday,” it added, stating that several more police and security members were injured, mostly as a result of stone-throwing.

He was said to be a member of the Basij – a paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). In several locales Basij members have been observed supporting local police forces, as is typical whenever major anti-government protests flare up.

“Footage verified by BBC Persian appears to show security forces firing at protesters in the city on the same day,” the report also notes.

But the government’s counter-narrative has quickly emerged, with state-linked Fars News Agency citing an “informed source” to say that “armed protesters” have stirred up anti-police violence.

Fox: “Footage shows protesters tearing down a government gate in southern Iran. Businesses shut. Universities closed. Offices locked down.”

🚨Footage shows protesters tearing down a government gate in southern Iran.

Businesses shut. Universities closed. Offices locked down. When a government has to shut everything down to survive, it’s already losing.pic.twitter.com/7irRs5kXyt

— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) January 1, 2026

What started Sunday as shopkeepers in a prominent Tehran market shuttering their doors in protest of a collapsing currency and soaring prices has now spread to the youth and the universities. 

Schools and public buildings have been closed across the country on Thursday in order to control the spread of the protests, in what’s being widely reported as a last-minute, possibly desperate decision of the central government.

This after crowds have sought to break into government buildings – for example, groups broke the gate of the governor’s office in the city of Fasa in the southern province of Fars. Security are seen shooting to try and drive them back, and dispersing tear gas.

Fifth day of protests in Iran.

Some peaceful, some violent.

One can be sure that Israel and the CIA are trying to take advantage of the discontent. pic.twitter.com/7JFMieENw9

— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) January 1, 2026

The economy has been hammered by 40% inflation and coming off the 12-day June war, which left the leadership and populace in a new state of angst, paranoia, and even despair. The country is on a backfoot economically, militarily, its nuclear program decimated or at least set back by years, and there’s eroding trust – especially as authorities have tried and executed dozens for alleged Israeli-links.

This is perhaps why President Masoud Pezeshkian has urged calm, and taken the rare step of saying the government will listen to the “legitimate demands” of the protesters.

As with prior years’ protests, including the so-called ‘anti-hijab’ protests sparked by women, there’s much that’s hard to verify in terms of reporting, as activists outside the country seek to amplify hard to prove claims amid the fast-moving events on the ground. External actors (whether MEK, pre-1979 monarchists, the US, or Israel) will no doubt seek to hijack the protests, and there could be intelligence infiltration. But there is clear evidence of many chanting in some places slogans calling for the overthrow of the government in Tehran.