Iran ~ Protestors Take to the Streets Against Regime
Jan 8 2026
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
"Protest activity in Iran has expanded dramatically in both rate and magnitude since January 7, including in major cities like Tehran and in northwestern Iran. Protesters demonstrated in at least 156 instances across 27 provinces on January 8, which almost doubles the number of protests recorded on January 7.
The individual protests are also much larger than those prior to January 8 and include 60 medium-sized protests (over 100 participants) throughout the country. Protests and strikes have expanded to the Kurdish-populated Kurdistan Province in northwestern Iran. CTP-ISW has recorded six protests in Kurdistan Province.
The regime appeared especially prepared to use extreme force to suppress protests in the western and northwestern provinces during the Mahsa Amini protests, at one point deploying the IRGC Ground Forces to conduct what the regime described as clearing operations across several towns and villages.
Vid 1: Demonstrations in Tehran’s Chitgar, Punak districts, and Mashhadv. Six vids merged.
The expansion of the ongoing protests to northwestern Iran will reignite regime anxieties about Kurdish separatism and militancy there. That could in turn drive the regime to adopt an especially brutal crackdown in those areas, which may already happening in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces.
The regime has likely determined that these protests represent an extremely dire security threat and has intensified its crackdown accordingly, including by taking the rare step of using the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces to suppress protests in at least one province.
The regime used the IRGC Ground Forces to suppress protests in at least Kermanshah Province and possibly other provinces on January 8.
This is a rare step; the regime only deployed the IRGC Ground Forces once during the Mahsa Amini protests, but it did so in Kurdish-populated areas. Kermanshah Province, where there are reports of IRGC Ground Forces activity, has a large Kurdish population. The regime tends to rely most heavily on the LEC and paramilitary Basij to manage social unrest and suppress protests.
Vid 2: More of the demonstrations, clips from NYT's.
The regime maintains elite Basij units that specialize in crowd control and repression and activates them when protests escalate meaningfully. The regime relies on the IRGC Ground Forces in the most extreme circumstances, during which the regime tends to approach protests as an insurgency rather than gatherings of aggrieved citizens. The IRGC Ground Forces is the final regime defense against civil upheaval and thus uses extreme levels of force to quell demonstrations.
The use of the IRGC Ground Forces in Kermanshah and the reports of casualties there suggest that the regime is approaching the protests there as an insurgency rather than riots or protests. Norway-based human rights organization Hengaw claimed that two IRGC Ground Forces members were killed during the protests in Kermanshah City on January 8, citing Iranian state media outlets.
The deaths of the IRGC soldiers are notable because these individuals are from a military force, not the police, and should be more capable of protecting themselves. It is unclear what caused their deaths, though the deaths of two soldiers during protests indicate that the clashes between protesters and security forces have become particularly intense in Kermanshah City. Hengaw also claimed that forces from the Nabi Akram Operational Division fired live rounds at protesters in Kermanshah City, where the unit is based, on January 8.
1. Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The regime arrested several security forces members on January 8 who reportedly refused orders to fire at protesters, according to a Norway-based human rights organization. This is the only instance CTP-ISW has observed of security forces refusing orders at this time. Should this trend expand, however, it could cause major bandwidth constraints that would further limit the regime’s ability to suppress protests.
IRGC-affiliated media reported on January 8 that a Law Enforcement Command (LEC) member died of a stabbing injury he sustained on duty while attempting to contain protesters in Malard.
2.
Protesters killed two LEC officers during protests in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Provinces, as well as an unspecified security force member in Malekshahi, Ilam Province. The Iranian regime could use the deaths of security personnel as justification to intensify its suppression of Iranian protesters and contribute to the regime’s perception that it is suppressing insurgents rather than protesters or rioters.
The regime has also responded with sweeping internet shutdowns. The regime has spent years developing its ability to impose localized internet shutdowns.
Vid 3: Police and military cars/vehicles burning after being set on fire by demonstrators.
The regime has elected for a countrywide shutdown is dramatic and reflects how dire Iranian leaders perceive the situation. Countrywide internet shutdowns precede bloody crackdowns, as was the case during the Aban protests in November 2019. Reuters reported that the regime killed around 1,500 protesters during this period.
The internet shutdown across Iran could severely limit the open-source information available to CTP-ISW. Our updates during the shutdown will likely reflect only some of the protest activity on a given day. Nevertheless, the continuation of the internet shutdown is an indicator in itself that a meaningful amount of protest activity is still occurring.
The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-linked Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), among others, called for a nationwide “general strike” on January 8 in response to the regime’s violent crackdown on protests in Kermanshah, Ilam, and Lorestan provinces.
Vid 4: Demonstrators create traffic jam and block highway into Tehran.
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Tasnim News denounced the Kurdish groups’ call for a general strike, accusing them of attempting to incite riots.[5] The regime previously accused Kurdish opposition groups of inciting protests in Kurdish areas during the Mahsa Amini movement. Iranian leaders have long-standing concerns about Kurdish separatism and militancy in the western and northwestern provinces.
Iranian leaders have historically accused Kurdish militias in Iraq of operating in the border provinces and inciting social unrest. Those concerns grew particularly acute during the 2022-23 Mahsa Amini protests, which were partly concentrated among Kurdish communities that the regime worried the Kurdish militias could try to co-opt." ISW
New Trump warning as Iran cuts internet with protests across country
Jan 9 2025"U.S. President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Iran's leaders on Friday as videos showed anti-government protests raging across the country, and authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest.
Rights groups have documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week the U.S. could come to the protesters' aid issued another warning on Friday, saying: "You better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too."
"I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that's a very dangerous place right now," he added.
3. Trump issues warning for Iranian officials on his social media page.
However Trump said on Thursday he was not inclined to meet Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based crown prince and son of the late Shah of Iran, a sign that he was waiting to see how the crisis plays out before backing an opposition leader.
In a televised address, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of opposition groups abroad and the United States, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences." Rueters
Vid 5: Trump warns Iran that the States will act if protestors start getting killed, Jan 9 2026.
