January 23, 2026

On December 22, 2026, another round of popular protests began in Iran. From the very first day, these protests were not limited to the bazaars but turned into a chain of large-scale mass demonstrations in all parts of the country. A process that continued to develop into one of the largest popular uprisings in the history of the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic's response continued to be a bloody confrontation with the people's demonstrations. According to information so far, thousands of people have been killed and injured, and tens of thousands have been arrested. The scale of the massacre has been unprecedented even in the life of the murderous regime of the Islamic Republic. A number of the wounded have been arrested even in hospitals or shot dead. The regime has been trying to prevent the spread of news of this heinous massacre by cutting off the internet and closing information channels.

1- Background:

The rapid spread of anti-regime protests in the very first days once again showed that the Islamic Republic is sitting on a volcano of people's anger and dissatisfaction and that society is in an explosive state. Although the protests initially began in a chaotic economic situation, they quickly became political. Hatred and disgust towards the regime, which has brought the country to the brink of collapse for more than 46 years by plundering resources and advancing a resistance-oriented policy in the region, has increased significantly.

Today, the Islamic Republic is more clearly than ever before as the main cause of society's impasse and the people's suffering. With its destructive policies and systematic corruption, this regime has, above all, expanded inequality and discrimination in all political, economic and social aspects and has turned the country into a ruin. It has spent country's resources on ideological parasitic institutions and its melancholic political dreams in the region and has formed the "axis of resistance" and nurtured proxy forces. The environmental crisis, the water crisis, the crisis of the loss of lakes, the drying up of rivers and the emptying of dams are the most terrible results of this regime’s corrupt and mafia-like management of the country’s natural resources.

The spread of protests to different regions of the country and different cities and towns indicates the height of public disgust with the policies of this regime and the public’s desire to be free from its political domination. Everywhere, the slogans during the protests, no matter what the issue, have ended with the necessity of getting rid of this regime.

2- The Crisis of Governance

The popular uprisings of the last decade, especially since December 2017, have in practice been anti-systemic in nature. In November 2019, the protest against the high price of gasoline took on dimensions that put the regime at risk of collapse, and it was only with the order to shoot directly at people and arrest thousands of people across the country that the movement’s advance was stopped. In 2022, the revolutionary movement "Women, Life, Freedom" began after the murder of Mahsa Amini because of the hijab, but in practice it targeted the main pillars of the regime. It shattered the authority of the Islamic Republic in key areas and in certain areas it changed the balance of power in society in favor of the people. It took the public aspects of society from the monopoly of the Islamic Republic; although the compulsory veil was not officially abolished, it was broken in the minds of the people and removed from the daily lives of many citizens of society, paving the way for other coercions of the Islamic Republic. Now the protest movement has taken the direction of overthrowing the regime. Breaking the barrier of repression, even in one or more areas, is a blow to the authority of an authoritarian regime that, in the continuation of the people's struggles, can toll the bell of its end with the emergence of a split at the top and in the force of repression.

The current protests, which have continued for several weeks without interruption and have engulfed the entire country, have shown that society has increasingly gone beyond localized dissatisfaction and has reached an all-out confrontation with the foundations of the regime. The level of anger and audacity of the protesters has reached a point where the regime’s violent repression has not only not set them back but has fueled more powerful uprisings. In such circumstances, it is not possible to contain the movement without profound changes. Repression and killing will no longer block the path forward of the people’s revolutionary uprising. Every repression and killing will only fuel the fire of people’s anger.

3- Orientation and Vigilance in Struggle

In the current revolutionary uprising of the Iranian people, the main and central goal of the struggle is the Islamic Republic. Dealing with Reza Pahlavi’s digressions due to unsupported calls, unrealistic promises and false information that gave the Islamic Republic an excuse for more brutal killings should not cast the slightest shadow over the crimes of the Islamic Republic. Despite the fact that Reza Pahlavi encouraged the people to occupy administrative centers with false promises, it is the Islamic Republic that has massacred people. Reza Pahlavi’s extremely harmful positions and his subsequent justification that called the people’s revolutionary uprising a war and attributed its casualties to the war should be severely criticized. But the Islamic Republic had a plan for the killings, and Reza Pahlavi’s unsupported calls gave the regime an opportunity to carry out its plan.

The people’s anger at the Islamic Republic’s widespread and bloody crimes is understandable and justified. But political awareness dictates that we must not give in to emotions. Experience has shown that the regime's security forces, by inciting and encouraging the destruction and burning of public places and even mosques, try to escalate the protests into more violence and provide an excuse for repression and justification. Participation in such scenarios is the direct will of the regime.

The real power of this movement lies in its breadth, mass presence and broad participation of the people. The wider the presence of the people, the more fragile the regime becomes and the more difficult it becomes to suppress it. Inciting violence that leads to the elimination of parts of society and the scene of struggle is the regime’s tool for reducing the social weight of the movement and justifying repression.

Current developments show that the process of fundamental change has begun and is irreversible. The Islamic Republic has entered a stage of erosion and is no longer able to rebuild its past authority. Continuing a conscious and comprehensive struggle will pave the way for the complete dismantling of this regime.

4- What Should Be Done?

The fact that this regime is still in power has its own reasons. regimes do not fall by themselves. Although the people’s unwillingness is the main condition for changing a regime and removing a system, this removal will not necessarily be implemented without creating the necessary tools for change. Another condition is that the rulers cannot continue to rule. In this round of protests, this aspect of the situation has also changed. The Islamic Republic is unable to govern the country and has many problems in confronting the growing people's movement. What is missing from the scene of development is the organized force of the democratic alternative to present a plan aimed at uniting the will of the people at the national level to end the regime.

In the path of transition from the Islamic Republic, military intervention by major powers is neither the solution to the Iranian crisis nor in the interests of the people. The people's righteous anger and hatred for the crimes of this regime have led some people to resort to Trump's military intervention out of desperation, but military intervention has no result other than destruction, instability and the imposition of new calamities on the people. The Iranian people want effective international support. This support can be provided to help provide and expand communication facilities for the people and the protest movement, in order to counter internet shutdowns and censorship, or by freezing the assets and funds of the oppressors and institutions affiliated with the Islamic Republic in Western countries, dragging the Islamic Republic to the International Criminal Court, preventing the sale and shipment of weapons and equipment of repression to this regime, and creating serious obstacles to the continuation of the machine of repression.

With the spread of the popular uprising and the periodic repetition of these uprisings, the conditions for the formation of an alternative force are more than ever ready. An alternative force will arise from the uprisings and popular movements. The democratic opposition of the Islamic Republic can play an effective role in forming an alternative force. What is important today is to abandon unnecessary strictures and rely on commonalities that the left and democratic forces of society can rely on to find a clear plan for the future and open a different perspective for millions of people tired and filled with anger due to the difficult life in the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic has unleashed an unprecedented massacre. Its dimensions are not yet fully clear, but so far, despite the disruptions and blockage of society’s communication with the outside world, it has been clear that the dimensions of violence and crime have been unprecedented even in the Islamic Republic. The number of arrests has reached tens of thousands. Now the risk of attacks on the lives of those arrested is serious. Fighting for the release of political and ideological detainees and prisoners and fueling the campaign against executions and the release of political prisoners, is an urgent duty for all of us, and we must mobilize on a national scale.

The Left Party of Iran, honoring the memory of the numerous victims and strongly condemning the repression and widespread killings of the criminal regime of the Islamic Republic, offers its condolences to the bereaved families of the revolutionary uprising and to the Iranian people, and calls on all political, civil forces, and human rights defenders to cooperate and support the creation of a free and democratic society instead of the hell of the Islamic Republic.

The Left Party of Iran calls on the Republican and Democratic opposition to understand this historical moment. Our country today needs something beyond this or that platform that each of us wants and the continuation of the confrontation of these platforms in the political arena. Today, while adhering to our platform, we must think about a joint action plan for major changes at the national level. A plan that, as a national pact, includes the minimum commonalities of a large part of the opposition forces and responds to the needs of the people's revolutionary movement at this critical moment. Our party has repeatedly called on the left, Republican and Democratic forces to discuss and coordinate around common goals, and today we reiterate this necessity. The future of Iran depends on a broad unity and the creation of a democratic alternative to end the Islamic Republic!

Central Council of the Left Party of Iran
January 23, 2026