Iran is facing one of its most turbulent periods in decades. In 2025, authorities carried out at least 1,500 executions — the highest number in over 35 years — according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR). At the same time, fresh protests driven by crippling economic stagnation have erupted across the country, including violent clashes in the southwestern city of Lordegan. Rights groups say the regime is using the death penalty as a blunt tool to instill fear, but the streets are proving that strategy is backfiring.
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Violent Clashes Erupt in Lordegan Amid Economic Fury
Protesters and security forces clashed in southwest Iran on Thursday, December 31, 2025, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Demonstrators, frustrated by years of economic hardship, took to the streets in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.
“Some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the provincial governor’s office, the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall and banks,” Fars stated. Police responded with tear gas, and an unspecified number of people were injured. Local sources later reported at least one fatality, though authorities have not officially confirmed deaths.
These demonstrations are part of a broader wave of unrest that began in late December 2025, triggered by the Iranian rial hitting record lows and widespread strikes in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Unlike the massive 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, these protests remain smaller and more scattered — but they signal deep, ongoing anger over inflation, unemployment, and mismanagement.
A Record-Breaking Wave of Executions
Iran Human Rights (IHR) announced on Thursday that the regime executed at least 1,500 people in 2025 — an “unprecedented” spike that marks the bloodiest year for capital punishment since the early years of the Islamic Republic.
“It is very alarming,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. “It is unprecedented in the last 35 years. As long as Iran Human Rights has existed, we have never had such numbers.”
More than 700 of those executed were convicted on drug-related charges — a category often used to target ethnic minorities like Baluchis and Afghan nationals, who face disproportionate sentencing. In 2024, IHR and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) verified 975 executions, already a sharp rise from previous years.
“Iranian authorities use the death penalty as an instrument to create fear. The aim of these executions has been to prevent new protests. But as you see, these days, they haven’t succeeded.”— Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of Iran Human Rights
Latest Developments: Protests Spread Nationwide
As of January 1, 2026, protests have entered their fourth day and spread to multiple cities, including Tehran and southwestern regions. Reports indicate several deaths and dozens of arrests, with paramilitary forces deployed in force. The unrest was sparked by the currency crisis but quickly broadened into calls for economic relief and political change. Source: Reuters (January 1, 2026)
Why the Surge? A Regime Fighting for Survival
The dramatic rise in executions began after the 2022 protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody. Numbers jumped from over 500 in 2022 to more than 800 in 2023, 975 in 2024, and now at least 1,500 in 2025. Experts say the regime is deliberately accelerating hangings — often in secret and without fair trials — to deter dissent ahead of potential new uprisings.
Yet the streets tell a different story. Economic pressure from sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement continues to push ordinary Iranians to the brink. When fear no longer works, desperation takes over.
Оригинальная статья: Iran's Deadliest Year: 1,500 Executions in 2025 as Economic Protests Explode on Planet Today 🚀
Автоматически переопубликовано из основного блога.
