Iranian diaspora rallies worldwide as unrest intensifies at home

Iranians across the diaspora are staging demonstrations to show support for the ongoing national uprising inside Iran.

According to Iran International, protesters in Budapest and Tokyo chanted “Long live the king!”, while in Auckland, New Zealand, participants raised the historic “Lion and Sun” flag and pulled down the flag of the Islamic Republic.

These actions abroad come as Iran faces an intensifying wave of unrest that first erupted on December 28, 2025, in Tehran’s bazaar amid widespread frustration over worsening economic conditions. The protests rapidly spread to other parts of the country and were accompanied by increasingly vocal anti-government slogans.

January 8 marked the broadest mobilisation to date, with large cities including Tabriz, Urmia and Ardabil joining the demonstrations. Around 50 Kurdish cities also took part in a general strike following a call issued by seven Kurdish political organisations. At the same time, protests have been recorded at no fewer than 36 Iranian universities over the past thirteen days, where students have also chanted anti-government slogans.

On January 9, members of the Baluch minority rallied in Zahedan after Friday prayers at the Maki mosque. Security forces responded with live ammunition, an episode that immediately drew parallels to Zahedan’s “Bloody Friday” during the 2022–2023 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, when more than 100 demonstrators were killed outside the same mosque.

The authorities have also enforced a nationwide internet shutdown, which began at 22:00 on January 8 and reduced connectivity to just 1 per cent by the next morning. The last time Iran experienced a blackout of this magnitude was in November 2019, when protests resulted in hundreds of deaths and, according to some reports, up to 1,500 fatalities.

As the unrest persists, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has branded the demonstrators “vandals” and “rioters,” insisting that the government will not yield to the escalating protests.

By Tamilla Hasanova