Inside Iran's Deepening Crisis

Protests that began as a price shock have turned into a legitimacy crisis—against the backdrop of renewed “snapback” sanctions, a battered economy, and fresh US threats that raise the risk of a wider war

- DIPANKAR DEY

Since December 2025, civilian protests have paralysed the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is still reeling from a 12-day war launched by Israel last June that saw the United States bomb nuclear sites in Iran. Economic pressure, which has intensified since September when the United Nations reimposed sanctions on the country over its atomic program, has sent Iran’s rial currency into a free fall, sliding to a new low at 1.47 million rials per USD. More than 2,000 people have been killed during the violent crackdown by security forces on protests in Iran.

An Iranian official also told Reuters that 2,000 people had been killed but that “terrorists” were to blame. President Trump promised Iranians that help was “on its way”. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iranian authorities would “pay a big price” for the killings, and urged people to “keep protesting”. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!” he added, using the acronym for a US-based Iranian opposition slogan, “Make Iran Great Again”.

Since the early 1950s, the USA has been playing a dirty game with Iran to retain its hegemonic control over its vast oil and gas. The game is very simple: cripple the Iranian economy by applying sanctions so that the citizens suffer from deteriorating living conditions. When they hit the street in protest, the USA and its allies instigate them to ‘keep protesting’ with the promise of dispatching help - economic and military, to ‘Make Iran Great Again'! Please refer to infographic for a brief timeline of US sanctions that have crippled Iran over the last seven decades. Due to harsh US sanctions, according to World Bank data, Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita fell from more than USD 8,000 in 2012 to about USD 6,000 by 2017, and to a little above USD 5,000 in 2024.