US EditionAnalysts Divided on Whether Iran Protests Can Topple Regime
Protests sparked by currency collapse have spread to 185 cities, with over 190 deaths confirmed, challenging Iran's regime amid economic mismanagement and social unrest.
- On December 28, shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar launched protests that spread nationwide and became the largest challenge to the Islamic Republic while being widely broadcast despite internet blackouts.
- Widespread economic hardship and social strain have fuelled protesters' grievances as anger over regime spending and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' expanded stakes intensified public resentment, analysts say.
- Iran Human Rights reported a death toll estimate of around 650 people, while Iranian state media documented over 120 security-force deaths; analysts say the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retains roughly 180,000 personnel.
- Analysts caution that defections remain the pivotal variable, but none are evident yet, while Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders publicly rally behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and vow to restore order.
- Alfoneh argued the IRGC has been weakened by recent regional battlefield losses and the 12-day war, with analysts citing heavy senior-level losses and recent leadership changes consolidating harder security lines.
57 Articles
57 Articles
Roebuck: Protests Alone Unlikely to Lead to Regime Change
US President Donald Trump says he's imposing a 25% tariff on goods from countries doing business with Iran, ratcheting up pressure on the government in Tehran. The announcement comes after weeks of mass unrest in Iran, initially sparked by worsening economic conditions, but has increasingly been aimed at the regime. William Roebuck, former US Ambassador to Bahrain and Executive Vice President, Arab Gulf States Institute spoke to Bloomberg’s Hori…
Why Iran’s clerical establishment still holds as protests rage
Despite Iran's nationwide protests and years of external pressure, there are as yet no signs of fracture in the Islamic Republic's security elite that could bring an end to one of the world's most resilient governments.
'Very little evidence of mass organisation by protesters' to take over Iran government, analyst says
Speaking with FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, Arang Keshavarzian, Author and Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, says that 'there's so few good options for Iranians at this current juncture that [Reza Pahlavi] is the only concrete name that can come to the fore' adding that 'important democratic figures in Iran don't have the organisational capacity to come together to build a big coalition'.
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