![Thousands of people gather in front of Tehran University, carrying banners and chanting slogans against the United States and Israel, as a funeral ceremony is being held for 100 security personnel who lost their lives during the protests in Tehran, Iran, on January 14, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AA-20260114-40252584-40252548-FUNERAL_CEREMONY_HELD_FOR_100_SECURITY_PERSONNEL_WHO_LOST_THEIR_LIVES_IN_IRAN_PROTESTS-1.jpg)
The January 2026 protests in Iran did not erupt from nowhere, and they did not come from the margins. They grew out of a long, layered accumulation of frustration: public anger over corruption among officials and affiliated oligarchs, a sense of economic incompetence, and the grinding experience of watching the rial lose value while ordinary people’s futures shrink. What made this wave distinctive was where the spark caught. This time it was not primarily a peripheral neighbourhood or a single symbolic incident; it was the bazaar—Tehran’s market and the commercial centers of other major cities—where currency shocks and social psychology collide in real time. When the dollar surges and prices jump, the bazaar registers it first, and the rest of […]
