What happened, day by day: protests, violence, arrests and testimonies across Iran. Each event links to its source.
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Mobile-phone traders in central Tehran closed shops and gathered in protest as the rial fell to new lows. Demonstrations were reported around the Alaeddin complex, Iran Mobile Center and Jomhouri Street, with anti-government slogans also heard.
Shop closures continued for a second day across several major Tehran markets. Closures or gatherings were reported at Chaharsouq, the gold market, Lalehzar, Jafari bazaar and parts of the Shoush wholesale district.
On the night of 29 December, protests were reported in Qeshm, Zanjan and Hamadan. Protesters chanted 'Death to the dictator' on Qeshm and 'Seyyed Ali will be toppled this year' in Zanjan.
A protester sat in the middle of Jomhuri Eslami Street in Tehran and refused to move for motorcycle security forces. He was later beaten and forced away. The image went viral and he became known as 'Tehran's Tank Man'.
On the third day of protests, students at several Tehran universities joined demonstrations as unrest spread beyond the capital. Riot police were reported using tear gas in some locations.
Security forces arrested five students while they were nonviolently protesting at the University of Tehran in support of the nationwide protest movement.
Protests were recorded in at least nine provinces, with students joining demonstrations at several universities. Merchant strikes were also reported in Tehran, Shiraz and Ahvaz.
On the third day of protests, BBC Persian reported that security forces fired on protesters in Hamadan and used tear gas in Tehran and Malard, as shop closures spread to Shoush, Molavi and Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan Square.
Rights groups and student groups reported that 11 protesters were arrested in the Shoush Square area of Tehran.
HRANA reported that Zahra Soleimani said her husband Mehdi Beik, political editor of Etemad newspaper, was arrested after going to Tehran's bazaar to cover the protests.
HRANA reported tear gas being fired and clashes between security forces and protesters in Kermanshah, and tear gas on Khayyam Street in Tehran.
Students at Khajeh Nasir University joined the protests on Tuesday 30 December, removing compulsory hijab and chanting 'death to the dictator', according to a Hengaw video report.
Protesters in Fooladshahr, Isfahan, took to the streets on the evening of Tuesday 30 December chanting 'death to the dictator', according to a Hengaw video report.
CTP-ISW reported that security forces fired live ammunition at crowds of protesters in Fasa and Kuhdasht as violence escalated during the opening days of the protests.
The government ordered closures in 21 of Iran's 31 provinces, officially because of cold weather and energy shortages. Analysts quoted by The New York Times said the real aim was to stifle the protests.
Protester Amirhesam Khodayarifard was killed by a shot to the head during protests in Kuhdasht. State media called him a Basij member; his father later said he was not, and the family reported pressure to accept the official account.
After Mohammad Reza Farzin resigned, the government appointed former economy minister Abdolnasser Hemmati as governor of the Central Bank of Iran.
KHRN's list of detainees records at least 23 people arrested in Dehloran, Ilam province, on 31 December; their fate was unknown at the time.
Hengaw reported that Dariush Ansari Bakhtiariwand, 37, a Lor man from Fuladshahr, was hit by Kalashnikov fire on the evening of 31 December and died before reaching a medical facility. (TIM records date his death to 30 December.)
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said at least 28 protesters and bystanders, including children, were killed in 13 cities across eight provinces between 31 December and 3 January, all shot by security forces, some with metal pellets. Lorestan (at least 8) and Ilam (at least 5) saw the deadliest repression; officials forced some families onto state media to blame accidents or protesters.
Government forces raided the Beheshti University dormitory on Wednesday 31 December and violently arrested students, according to a Hengaw video report.
CTP-ISW reported that protest violence increased from January 1 and that security forces killed protesters in locations including Kuhdasht, Fuladshahr, Marvdasht, Azna and Lordegan.
Human-rights reporting documented protesters being killed during demonstrations in Lordegan, one of several smaller cities where lethal force was used in the early phase of the unrest.
Al Jazeera reported that at least three people were killed during protests in Azna, Lorestan province, as unrest over the cost of living spread.
HRANA reported that security forces used gunfire and tear gas to disperse protesters in Nahavand, and pellet guns in Kuhdasht, on the fifth day of protests.
HRANA reported that Khodadad Shirvani, a resident of Marvdasht, was shot by security forces after taking part in protests and died.
HRANA confirmed the identity of Ahad Ebrahimpour, killed in Delfan (Nurabad, Lorestan) by violence from security forces.
Hengaw reported that Ali Qavidel, Peyman Mirzaei, Abbas Beidi and Arien Heidari were arrested on the evening of 1 January and Issa Shokouri on 2 January in Esfarayen County and taken to undisclosed locations.
Hengaw published footage of government forces firing directly at protesters in Abdanan, Ilam province, on the evening of Thursday 1 January.
Funerals were held under heavy security for protesters killed in Kuhdasht, Fuladshahr and Marvdasht. Mourners chanted against the government; in Kuhdasht, Basij and IRGC forces were chased away from the funeral.
Saber Dehghan, a neurosurgeon in Sirjan, was arrested at a hospital on 2 January while treating injured protesters, after an argument with security agents. HRANA reported the arrest weeks later, on 7 February, after communications returned.
US President Donald Trump warned that if Iran shot and killed peaceful protesters, the United States would 'come to their rescue'.
HRANA reported that mourners chanted slogans at the burials of two people killed in the protests; a video from Qom showed agents using tear gas to disperse them, and a man holding a pellet-gun cartridge.
HRANA confirmed the identity of Amirhossein Bayati, killed in Hamedan by violence from security forces.
The political and security deputy governor of Qom said a 17-year-old from Qom was killed during the previous night's protests, claiming he was shot by protesters, HRANA reported.
KHRN said Ali Azizi was killed by IRGC Basij gunfire during protests in Harsin. State-affiliated media presented him as a Basij member killed by protesters; eyewitnesses said he was a protester. Under IRGC pressure his father published a video, and the funeral on 4 January was state-run under tight security.
Seven Kurdish men from Sarpol-e Zahab were arrested on 2 January in connection with republishing a call for a peaceful protest, Hengaw reported.
Government forces raided homes in Asadabad, Hamedan province, and violently arrested five protesters, Hengaw reported.
Erfan Bozorgi, a Lor arm-wrestling champion from Marvdasht, died in hospital on 2 January after being shot directly by government forces during protests, bringing the Marvdasht toll to three, Hengaw reported.
Taha Safari, 15, was killed during protests in Azna. Authorities showed his family a body with gunshot wounds to the head and face, identifiable only by his jacket, and pressed them to register the death as a traffic accident, Hengaw reported on 5 January.
Government forces attacked protesters in Yasuj on Friday 2 January and fired directly at them, according to a Hengaw video report.
The cities where people in this archive were killed on 8 or 9 January 2026. Only names with a recorded date and city are counted, so the real numbers are higher.
Events are published only with a source. A report is not a verified fact about any one person. Our story
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