Hundreds take to streets of Iran for third day as protests grow over cost of living crisis

Protests spread in Iran

According to Reuters, on Tuesday, university students joined the shopkeepers and bazaar merchants as the cost of living crisis in the Islamic Republic continues to soar.

Iran’s rial currency has lost nearly half its value against the dollar in 2025, with inflation reaching 42.5 per cent in December.

The currency slid to 1.4 million rials to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, according to private exchange platforms, a record low after starting the year at 817,500 rials to the dollar.

Protesters chant pro-Shah slogans

Video of protests, verified by Reuters as taking place in Tehran, showed scores of people marching along a street chanting “Rest in peace Reza Shah“, a reference to the founder of the royal dynasty ousted in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Footage aired on Iranian state television on Monday showed people gathered in central Tehran chanting slogans.

The semi-official Fars News Agency reported that hundreds of students held protests on Tuesday at four universities in Tehran.

Past protests in Iran

Such massive protests are not new in Iran.

In 2022, Iran witnessed protests across the country over price hikes, including for bread, a major staple.
In 2023, Iran was rocked by one of the biggest protests against the Ayatollahs since the Islamic Revolution over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police, who enforce strict dress codes.

In the past, the Iranian government has used brute force to quell public uprisings.

Iran President offers to listen to protesters

But on Tuesday, the Iranian government offered dialogue with demonstrators.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post late on Monday that he had asked the interior minister to listen to “legitimate demands” of protesters. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said a dialogue mechanism would be set up and include talks with protest leaders.

“We officially recognise the protests … We hear their voices and we know that this originates from natural pressure arising from the pressure on people’s livelihoods,” she said on Tuesday in comments carried by state media.

Pezeshkian said in a meeting with trade unions and market activists on Tuesday that the government will do its best to resolve their issues and address their worries, according to state media.