Mass protests hit Iran as inflation soars

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 2/1/2026

AMID near-hyperinflation of the Iranian rial and widespread oppression of the Iranian working class, the largest protests since 2022 have rocked the middle-eastern nation.

Thousands have taken to the streets since 28 December, with protests largely centred in and around the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, where shopkeepers have been engaging in strike action.

The Marxist-Leninist Tudeh Party of Iran has come out in support of the protests, stating that 'Without moving beyond this regime of religious despotism and big-capital rule, there can be no hope for improving current conditions, easing economic pressures, reducing poverty and deprivation, resolving electricity and water shortages, or ending the violent and bloody wave of repression against freedoms and democratic rights.', indicating that the ongoing protests see large-scale approval from the Iranian left.

Despite this, the protests also include several extremely reactionary elements - those that seek the restoration of the Shah and those that seek domination by Israel are among those in the protests, and these reactionary groups' attempt to co-opt the legitimate grievances of the people, chief among them the inability for regular, proletarian Iranians to afford to live, must be condemned.

These protests come at the end of a year that once again has been extremely difficult for the Iranian government, with the 'Israeli' and US regimes launching several military strikes on the country. The nation has also been subject to large-scale droughts throughout this past year.