• Crowds topple statues; exiled Shah’s son calls for more protests, strikes
• Pezeshkian warns suppliers against hoarding, price hikes

DUBAI: Security forces used tear gas and live fire to disperse protesters in Iran, rights groups said on Thursday, as people angered by a deepening economic crisis kept up their challenge to the authorities while exiled opposition groups urged new protests and strikes.

Twelve days of demonstrations have shaken the clerical authorities, who are already battling an economic crisis after years of sanctions and are recovering from a June war with Israel.

Authorities have bla­m­­ed the unrest on “rioters,” and the nation’s judiciary chief has vowed there would be “no leniency” in bringing them to justice.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and a key exiled oppositi­­on figure, called the turnout on Wednesday “unpr­e­cedented” for this wave of demonstrations and urged major new protests on Thursday evening.

“More than 10 days of protests have been met with unlawful force,” said Amnesty International. “Iran’s security forces have injured and killed both protesters and bystanders.”

The HRANA monitor published a video of protesters in Kuhchenar, in the southern Fars province, cheering overnight as they pulled down a statue of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards.

HRANA said that according to its count, protests had taken place in 348 locations across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Separately, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned domestic suppliers against hoarding or overpricing goods, state media reported on Thursday, as Tehran attempts to implement high-stakes subsidy reforms amidst the unrest.

“People should not feel any shortage in terms of goods’ supply and distribution,” Pezeshkian said.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2026