The Iran-US tension are at their peak right now, with both sides threatening military action
According to local health officials, more than 3,000 people lost their lives
The government is still arresting people and putting them on trial
Demonstrations in Iran began on December 28, 2025, when shopkeepers and bazaar merchants in Tehran staged a strike as the Iranian currency hit an all-time low against the US dollar.
While the protests initially focused on the economy, they later expanded to wider political issues with the protestors chanting anti-government slogans. By early January, after Iran’s supreme leader said “rioters must be put in their place”, security forces came down heavily on demonstrators.
By January 8-9, as per reports, protests were recorded in at least 186 cities across all 31 provinces. The protests subsided by mid-January, but by that time, as per rights groups, more than 5,000 people, including security officials, had lost their lives. Thousands have been arrested.
The nationwide Internet blackout imposed by the authorities aggravated the situation. As the Internet situation is back to normal now, more and more voices are emerging from Iran and people are sharing their stories.
This story has been shared with us anonymously from Tehran.
“We are Still Here, Either Death Or Victory”
The whole world already knows that for years we have been at war for freedom; each time under a different excuse, a different reason. But this time was different. This time, our determination felt different—as if for all of us, it was the last time, the last moment when everything had to end.
On December 28 and 29, Prince Reza Pahlavi issued a call, and a large number of people took to the streets in response. At that point, it was no longer just about protests. The goal of people had shifted toward revolution and real change. People were chanting together: “Long live the Shah”, and calling for the overthrow of the incompetent Islamic Republic regime.
At 7:30, we went out. In less than 20 minutes, the street turned into a battlefield. We were surrounded in an alley, and they filled the entire place with tear gas. People were dragging themselves in every direction, trying to escape. We couldn’t breathe, but we were still shouting.
That was when a large number of officers came toward us. They attacked us with batons, stun grenades, and live fire. People were being beaten one by one. The alleys were full of people in pain, desperately looking for a way out—but there was no escape. They had taken over everywhere. They stood in front of people who had no guns, no weapons, no batons —and they just shot.
One by one, in front of our eyes, people fell to the ground and never stood up again. Sounds were coming from every direction. The officers were shouting at us mercilessly, kicking the lifeless bodies lying on the ground, shooting at us in a way that made it impossible to believe they were human. It didn’t matter to them who was standing in front of them — man or woman, old or young, even a child. Their eyes were closed. They just fired. It didn’t matter where the bullet would land or whose body it would hit.
During all those hours, I kept going, my shoulder aching from baton blows. With a lump in my throat, with fear, with tears —I kept going. Because I was certain that the blood that had been spilled could not go unanswered. It was time for those responsible to be held accountable.
I still remember the faces of many people who fell to the ground in front of my eyes and never made a sound again. The screams of that woman, writhing in pain, are still in my ears. At night, I wake up to the sound of that officer who was chasing me, shouting “Stop”.
I see the people who fell and died in front of my eyes in my dreams. The moment that officer looked straight at me and slammed his baton into my shoulder has become my recurring nightmare.
We witnessed and lived through a massacre with our own eyes—a full-scale mass killing. This will never be erased from our memory. The entire world must know and see the violence that a system inflicted on its own people, and it must never be forgotten. What we saw is something that usually only happens in wars between countries.
In the media, they are spreading rumours that these events were the work of foreign forces. They were not. I saw with my own eyes that domestic forces, in their own military uniforms, attacked, beat, and killed in the most brutal way possible.
We are still here.
Many of us are gone—friends, family members, our children. But we are still here, and we will continue. We are countless.
The protests lasted for about thirteen days. Right now, there is no clear political outcome. The government is still arresting people and putting them on trial, but social pressure continues, both inside the country and abroad. It is impossible to predict what will happen next. We hope the international community will take action to save our lives, because we feel like hostages who are being killed.
Either death or victory.
