1. Introduction
This Situation Report updates HANA’s initial documentation of protests and strikes in Iran by extending coverage through the seventh consecutive day of unrest. Available reporting indicates that protest activity remained geographically wide and socially diverse, even as authorities expanded security deployments and intensified enforcement across multiple locations.
The latter part of the reporting window shows two escalations of particular concern: (i) a marked increase in arrests, including extensive reported detention of minors; and (ii) circulation of videos described as coerced confessions, including footage reportedly involving detained teenagers.
2. Sources and verification posture
This report draws on HANA field inputs, local testimonies, and review of verifiable videos and images received through citizen networks. It also relies on aggregated figures and incident descriptions published in daily updates by a prominent rights monitoring outlet, and on reporting by major international media.
Due to restricted access, internet disruption, and limited transparent official reporting, several details remain subject to verification, particularly: the circumstances and attribution of deaths; the identities of detainees arrested in group operations; detention locations and transfers; and access to legal counsel and family contact.
Aggregated figures cited in this report are derived from daily public monitoring updates and are treated as minimum counts pending further corroboration.
3. Headline figures for the first seven days
Aggregated monitoring for the seven-day window reports the following minimum figures:
Protests and strikes: recorded in at least 174 locations across 60 cities in 25 provinces.
Arrests: at least 582 individuals reported detained.
Fatalities: at least 15 protesting citizens reported killed; at least 16 total deaths when including at least one member of the security forces.
Student activity: protest activity reported at 18 universities, with 18 student gatherings across 15 universitiesincluded in seven-day totals.
These are minimum counts based on currently available reporting and may increase as identification and corroboration improve.
4. Context and likely drivers
Available reporting indicates that the protests unfolded amid acute economic pressure marked by currency instability, high inflation, and declining purchasing power affecting households and market actors. Reporting during the week also points to market volatility and heightened perceptions of economic insecurity.
Some open-source analyses referenced in monitoring updates suggest a broader economic pattern preceding the protests: exchange-rate surges reaching new thresholds, indications of capital outflows, and a shift of liquidity into perceived safe assets such as gold and foreign currency. At ground level, reported impacts include closures or partial shutdown of small businesses and growing difficulty sustaining daily livelihoods, contributing to the expansion of strikes and street demonstrations.
5. Forms of protest and participation
Across the seven days, reports describe varied forms of mobilization, including market closures and trade stoppages, short street gatherings, dispersed marches, and university-based actions. Verified videos and witness accounts indicate that protest messaging ranged from livelihood demands to broader criticism of governance and calls for justice and freedoms.
A recurring pattern is the apparent blurring of boundaries between trade-linked actions and wider political demands, with overlapping grievances expressed across multiple localities.
6. Geographic spread, including the seventh day
For the seventh day alone, aggregated monitoring records protest gatherings in 12 cities across 8 provinces, including Kazerun, Malekshahi, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Mashhad, Arkavaz, Isfahan, Tehran, Hafshejan, Karaj, Shahrekord, and Fardis.
The distribution across both large urban centers and smaller localities is significant for documentation and protection analysis. Enforcement practices often vary by locality, oversight conditions, and the institutional mix of security actors present.
7. Security response and reported use of force
Reports and circulated videos reviewed during the reporting window indicate an intensified security posture in multiple locations, including expanded deployment around main streets, squares, marketplaces, and other sensitive urban areas. Accounts describe violent arrests in public spaces and the use of crowd-control measures, including tear gas in some incidents, alongside reported gunfire, injuries, and confrontations in certain locations.
Several reports indicate that injured persons avoided seeking medical care due to fear of arrest, increasing protection risks and complicating casualty verification.
8. Fatalities and contested narratives
Aggregated monitoring confirms at least 16 deaths over the seven-day window, including at least one security force member, while separately reporting at least 15 protesting citizens killed.
A recurring documentation challenge is the existence of competing narratives regarding cause of death and responsibility. One reported example concerns Qom on 2 January 2026, where an official body reportedly attributed a death to fireworks, while eyewitness accounts reportedly contest that explanation. Separate official statements also reportedly attributed at least one teenage death to gunfire from protesters, underscoring the need for careful verification and independent review of claims.
The same monitoring outlet reports that it has confirmed the identities of two individuals allegedly killed through violence by security forces: Amirhossein Bayati (Hamedan) and Ahad Ebrahim-Pour (Delfan).
Under international standards, any death potentially linked to law enforcement operations triggers obligations of a prompt, independent, and effective investigation, including evidence preservation and protection of witnesses and families.
9. Arrests, detention concerns, and prison-related developments
Across the seven days, aggregated monitoring reports at least 582 arrests, while noting the actual number may be significantly higher.
Reported detention-related developments include:
Karaj Central Prison: reports that prisoners in Wards 15 and 16 were forcibly transferred, and those wards were designated to hold protest-related detainees.
Qom Prison: reports that approximately 200 detainees were transferred there following protest-related arrests, with identities under review.
Across multiple reported cases, due process concerns include unknown or undisclosed detention locations, lack of clear charge information, and uncertainty regarding access to counsel and family contact.
HANA withholds identifying details in this report where publication may increase risk to detainees or their families, particularly in cases involving minors.
10. Minors and heightened protection risks
A major escalation reported during days six and seven concerns arrests of teenagers and minors. One set of reports states that at least 81 people were arrested in Yasuj, including 70 under 18, and transferred to a Juvenile Rehabilitation Center and Yasuj Prison, with additional detainees reportedly held in security detention facilities.
Separate reporting identifies additional juvenile arrests in other locations, including teenagers reportedly transferred to a juvenile rehabilitation facility in Mashhad, and reported detentions of 15 to 16-year-olds in other cities.
Where children are detained, international standards require enhanced safeguards, including rapid family contact, access to legal assistance, separation from adults where required, and protection from coercive interrogation or media exposure.
11. Coerced confessions and coercive media practices
A further escalation involves videos described as forced confessions. Reporting includes an incident in Isfahan in which two teenage girls were reportedly arrested by an intelligence unit and a video described as their forced confession circulated, with the conditions of recording unclear. Additional reported cases include forced-confession content disseminated by outlets associated with security institutions.
From an international human rights law perspective, coerced confessions implicate the prohibition of ill-treatment and undermine fair trial guarantees, including the presumption of innocence. The protection risks and legal gravity increase when minors are involved.
12. Official posture and international reactions
During the seventh day, senior leadership statements reportedly framed the unrest by distinguishing between “protest” and what authorities characterized as “riots,” emphasizing confrontation with those labelled as rioters. Reporting also indicates official messaging attributing exchange-rate volatility to external actors and hostile influence.
International reactions reported during the same period include:
a warning by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran regarding escalation, the need to respect the rights to expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and the duty to refrain from excessive force; and
concern expressed by Amnesty International regarding reports of killings and unlawful use of force, with calls to respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
13. Outlook and documentation priorities
HANA will continue monitoring developments and issuing updates as corroboration improves. Immediate priorities include:
case-level verification of fatalities, including cause of death and, where evidence permits, identification of the units involved;
tracing detention locations, legal status, and access to counsel and family contact, with dedicated attention to minors;
preservation and analysis of videos described as forced confessions, including timeline reconstruction and indicators of coercion;
standardized geographic mapping to improve comparability across reports and reduce ambiguity in place references; and
monitoring prosecutorial and security messaging that may signal escalation toward mass prosecutions or expedited proceedings.