Two killed as protests over soaring inflation turn violent in southwest Iran

Protests that began in Iran nearly a week ago turned violent with the start of the New Year. According to the Associated Press report, protests fueled by Iran’s struggling economy expanded on Thursday into rural regions of the Islamic Republic, with authorities reporting at least seven deaths, the first confirmed fatalities among both demonstrators and security personnel since the unrest began.

The killings could signal the beginning of Iran’s theocracy’s harsher reaction to the protests, which have stalled in Tehran but spread to other parts of the country. The four cities, which are mostly inhabited by Iran’s Lur ethnic group, saw two deaths on Wednesday and five on Thursday.

These current protests represent the largest scale of dissent in Iran since 2022, following the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was held in police custody.