WSJ: Generation Z drives protests in Iran, bears heaviest toll

Iran’s Generation Z has played a central role in organising and sustaining mass anti-government protests, but young people have paid the highest price, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.

The protests, initially sparked by a severe economic crisis, quickly escalated into a direct challenge to Iran’s political system with active youth involvement.

According to the US-based nonprofit Human Rights Activists in Iran, the confirmed death toll has exceeded 6,000, with at least 124 victims under the age of 18 as of January 30. 

Other human-rights groups suggest that roughly half of those killed were likely members of Iran’s Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012.

The WSJ emphasised that some victims were taken to medical facilities, only to be later removed by security forces. Iranian authorities’ response represents one of the harshest episodes of political repression in the country’s modern history, according to the outlet.

Generation Z, or “Zoomers,” refers to those born roughly between the mid-1990s and early 2010s.

By Jeyhun Aghazada