Statement of the Tudeh Party of Iran:

The widespread popular protests are a renewed beginning for challenging religious–capitalist despotism and for liberating the homeland from deprivation, poverty, corruption, and the anti-people rule of the Islamic Republic.

30 December 2025

Dear compatriots,

The popular uprising that began on Sunday 28 December 2025, following the rapid surge in the price of foreign currencies and gold has quickly spread to numerous cities across Iran.  The action began with shopkeepers' strikes in Tehran and protests on the main capital throughfare,JomhuriStreet, as well as in the iron market of the city's Shoosh district, and was soon taken up bystudents and in workplaces. Once again, the chant “Death to the dictator!” shook the foundations of the ruling despotic regime.

According to reports published from cities across the country - including Mashhad, Hamedan, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Arak,Yazd, Qeshm Island,and Malard - protesting citizens confronted armed suppressive forces of the theocratic regime, who attacked demonstrators with tear gas and pellet guns. In Tehran, despite the heavy presence of security and repressive forces, the scope of the protests has expanded significantly.

Based on available reports, students from several universities based in the capital -Tehran, Allameh Tabataba'i, Beheshti, Amir Kabir,Khajeh Nasir Toosi,Elm-o San'at, Sharif- as well as universities in various other provinces, such as Yazd and Isfahan,also joined the protests in solidarity with the people and were attacked by the regime's mercenary forces. According to citizen reports on social media, special units of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired upon people in Tehran, Hamedan, and Kermanshah. The exact number of those arrested and injured in these brutal assaults remains unclear.

According to videos circulated on social media, students and citizens chanted slogans during direct confrontations with the regime's mercenaries, including:

• "Down with this theocratic regime!"
• "Student!Student! Be the voice of your people!"
• "We are born of blood; we will stand to the end!"
• "We fight, we die, we take back Iran!"
• "High prices and inflation are destroying people's lives!"
• "The merchant may die but will not accept humiliation!"
• "No headscarf, No baton - Freedom and equality!"
• "Woman, Life, Freedom!"
• "Shut it down!Shut it down!" (a call on the shop keepers to shutter their businesses and join the protesters)
• "Death to the dictator!"

Furthermore, based on reports shared on social media, workers and employees in a number of factories across the country launched protest actions against the rising prices of basic goods as well as the issue of unpaid wages. Among them, employees of the Kangan Petro-Refinery, Site 2, went on strike to protest the non-payment of four months' wages and gathered in front of the company's main gate. In addition, the Union of Truckers' Associations and Drivers of Iran, representing thousands of drivers and road transport workers, issued a statement expressing serious concern over the chaotic economic conditions, mounting pressure on the market, and the critical livelihood situation of drivers. The statement concluded: "Unity between the Bazaars and drivers is the only way out of this situation."  The union also declared full support for the country's Bazaars' traders and called upon all drivers to pursue their demands through collective and coordinated action while maintaining unity, vigilance, and solidarity.

The main roots of the current protests must be sought in the disastrous socio-economic policies of the theocratic regime: the unprecedented intensification of poverty, inflation exceeding 40 percent, the sharp devaluation of the national currency, the uncontrolled rise in foreign exchange rates, declining purchasing power of citizens, widespread corruption and rent-seeking, and the continuation of inhumane sanctions imposed by US imperialism and its allies.

Dear compatriots,

The political system ruling our homeland - namely the absolute guardianship of Ali Khamenei - is irreformable. Relying on extensive military and security structures, this government has openly and violently violated the people's rights and authority to determine their own destiny. 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 the people's freedoms and democratic rights.

This dictatorship has not only dragged Iran and its society to the brink of collapse and destruction but has also exposed the country to the serious and repeated danger of foreign intervention and the replacement of the current despotism with another decayed form of tyranny - one dominated by servants of US imperialism and the genocidal Israeli regime.

The experience of popular protests over the past decade - especially the January 2018 protests, the November 2019 protests, and the great "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising of autumn-winter 2022-2023 - demonstrates that without efforts to organise a general and nationwide strike and disrupt the daily functioning of the Islamic Republic, it is impossible to create the objective and effective conditions for moving beyond it. Solidarity among different social groups - from workers, labourers, and retirees to women, students, youth, and merchants - against the aggressive policies of this regime, and efforts to organise coordinated, nationwide protest movements, can lay the ground for seriously challenging the regime and opening the path toward fundamental and democratic transformation.

In this respect, members of the Tudeh Party will stand among the ranks of the protesting people and deploy all their strength and experience to expand and sustain these protests and transform them into a broad popular movement.

We continue to believe that all progressive and freedom-seeking forces in the country - from the Left and nationalist forces to national–religious groups, as well as individuals and forces that have moved beyond the policy of preserving the "system" and the current government - must join hands and play an important and effective role in organising today's mass protests in Iran.

The Tudeh Party of Iran

30 December 2025

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For the statements of the Tudeh Party of Iran and its analysis of major developments in Iran Please visit:    www.tudehpartyiran.org