Surprised there is no thread on it considering the ramifications and how quickly the situation is changing (but also understand the world is a bit chaotic right now). Iran is in the middle of another mass protest and the largest since 2022 (around 2 weeks so far), but this appears to be the event that could finally topple the regime as the situation escalates significantly in both scale and violencee.
Several towns have already supposedly fallen to mass protests and allegedly Iran's gold has been flown to Russia in a potential exodus the same way that al-Assad escaped before the toppling of his regime.
The internet has been shut off as a deterrent, but for a country where Tehran has literally no water, people believing they have nothing to lose anymore, and Reza Pahlavi (son of the former shah) seemingly putting himself as a rallying cry, this has momentum. Trump has also threatened to intervene militarily.
BBC has a pretty good timeline with live updates as best as they can get with lots of information.
Pretty crazy what's going on. Too early to say it's the beginning of the end, but literal gold being flown away is wild. The cold hard truth nobody wants to admit is that sometimes violence is the answer, although not preferable. Iranians have tried to do it relatively peacefully for years now and have always been met with physical actions towards them, including dozens dead this time. The news has been pretty silent about this, but hard to get news when the internet has been cutoff.
About time that horrid government meets their fate. American, take note.
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They're running out of water after years and years of crazy bad government incentives. I think time is literally running out and with their self described "Day Zero", the pressure is only ramping up.
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The Women's Revolution of a few years ago, literally got no support from anyone outside of Iran, and was absent from the news cycle. Eventually the theocracy came down hard. I hope this time some men grow half a nut, and join in.
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The Women's Revolution of a few years ago, literally got no support from anyone outside of Iran, and was absent from the news cycle. Eventually the theocracy came down hard. I hope this time some men grow half a nut, and join in.
Other world leaders may be hesitant to overly express or provide material support for protestors due to the way the Ayatollahs gained power in the first place. They came into power after Western interference resulted in the democratically elected leader being overthrown and replaced with the Shah, to secure oil rights. The Iranian regime has already been blaming the protests on "enemy plots".
I do agree that what's going on in Iran deserves a lot more press though.
It does seem like this round of protests may be different and lead to actual change. However, over throwing the Ayatollahs is easier said than done. They have complete control over the army and police. They have a separate military branch that is tasked with ensuring the Ayatollahs stay in power. Their population is full of 1984 style spies who spy on neighbors.
That being said, when the government of Iran is now unable to supply basic necessities like water, what do the people have to lose by confronting them? It also makes it harder to maintain loyalty in the military ranks, if you can't actually pay your thugs.
Regardless of what happens with these protests, the country is in a downward spiral with multiple simultaneous crisis that are going to get worse.
The water crisis is the most immediate one, and they are just destroying the country. In places the ground is sinking a a foot in a year due to underground water drying up. As a result they have tons of illegal wells, as people are drilling to get theirs, obviously making things worse in the big picture.
The country also has an energy crisis with blackouts being a regular occurrance.
However because the price of water and electricity is heavily subsidized, they are for example also a crypto mining hub. The government has also wanted to become food independent... by growing rice among other things. Their farming sector and industries are often ineffective and wasteful, and thus dependent on water and electricity continuing to be cheap.
And they have a housing crisis due to decades of corruption and mismanagement, and of course freshly built ghost cities very similar to what China was famous for at some point.
Oh, and the government spends much of its time and resources building weapons so non-Iranians can fight against other non-Iranians.
A well governed Iran could be an absolute power house, but what they have is a mess that will inevitably break down one way or the other.
The one upside is that they do have excellent engineers for example. They do have people who understand water systems, electrical systems, economics etc. A competent Iranian government is absolutely possible.
Last edited by Itse; 01-10-2026 at 07:55 AM.
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Iran has one of the most educated populations in the world, especially when it comes to engineering. The women in Iran are especially well educated in engineering. The country could accomplish a lot under different leadership.
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Iran has one of the most educated populations in the world, especially when it comes to engineering. The women in Iran are especially well educated in engineering. The country could accomplish a lot under different leadership.
A young and educated population that is also becoming less religious at the street level and sick and tired of living under theocracy.
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The significance of the flag is this is the Iran flag prior to the Islamic Revolution and originated from the Persian Constitutional Revolution over a century ago.
The only thing stopping the Iranian government from brutally taking out these protestors is Trump's promise to bomb Iran into oblivion if they do. This has really emboldened the protestors and I think it is possibly a matter of days before we're talking a full blown revolution.
Is there a reasonable opposition ready to take over government, or has the Iranian regime made sure to kill anyone who has tried? Is this gonna descend into chaos?
Is there a reasonable opposition ready to take over government, or has the Iranian regime made sure to kill anyone who has tried? Is this gonna descend into chaos?
My guess is the son of the former Shah supported by Trump.
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Is there a reasonable opposition ready to take over government, or has the Iranian regime made sure to kill anyone who has tried? Is this gonna descend into chaos?
Protesters are shouting for the return of the shah, which is Reza Pahlavi (son of former shah).
The internet has been shut off as a deterrent, but for a country where Tehran has literally no water, people believing they have nothing to lose anymore, and Reza Pahlavi (son of the former shah) seemingly putting himself as a rallying cry, this has momentum. Trump has also threatened to intervene militarily.
Reza Pahlavi also wants to restore normalized and friendly relations with Israel, which would greatly alter the geopolitical climate in the region. Iran actually had a very close relationship under the previous Shah and an alliance that lasted pretty much from the 1950s to the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
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He's alive mainly because he was in the US at the time of the Islamic Revolution
Is he planning to rule temporarily until elections can take place? The West deposing the elected government of Iran and forcing the Shah on them was a significant part of what led to the current mess. It seems wild to me that people are calling for the Shah to come back.
Iran
