In December 2025 protests erupted in Iran and lasted through mid January. The protests started small but quickly spread across the country. The protestors, outraged at decades of oppression, demanded changes to the legal system. The Iranian government cracked down hard on the protests, cutting out the internet, and killing in mass which brought the protests to light in the international community.
Iran has a history of repressing protests shown by the Woman Life Freedom uprising of 2022, and the nationwide November 2019 protests. Beyond political repression, economic despair further eroded public trust in the government. The Iranian people were already disillusioned with the government and after the collapse of the Iranian Rial the protests were bound to happen. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei said “rioters must be put in their place” amid protests growing.
The protests did not come out of nowhere. In the final months of 2025, Iran’s economy experienced a sharp decline with inflation hitting 42% in December 2025. Food prices rose 72%, while health and medical goods increased 50% every year. These economic conditions did not exist in isolation, they came after years of no significant changes and pushed the Iranian people to their breaking point
Most protestors wanted change in the ruling system itself. The government’s response only deepened public anger. Security forces carried out mass killings of protesters and bystanders, with Human Rights Watch finding increasing evidence of the use of lethal force. This included protesters killed by gunshot wounds to their heads and torsos. On January 8th, authorities cut internet access to hide their crimes and to prevent people in Iran from sharing information with the outside world. This pattern of violence drew the eyes of the United States.
The protests and the brutal crackdown that followed became central to how the United States framed its eventual military action. Trump warned on Truth Social, if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue,” later adding “we are locked and loaded and ready to go.” As the death toll climbed into the thousands, the killings of protesters were listed directly in the justifications for the February 2026 strikes.
While the killing of protesters was cited as a central justification for the February 2026 strikes, it wasn’t the only reason the United States took military action against Iran. Long-standing concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, and years of regional tensions both played a role in the strike. Many critics have argued that the protests were used by the Trump administration as a convenient moral framework to justify military action. The timing seems questionable as no action was taken during the November 2019 protests which also saw severe government crackdown.
The December 2025 protests exposed what many Iranians had known for decades, the government wouldn’t allow for any change. Whether the United States truly acted in defense of those people, or simply used their deaths to justify a war that was already coming, is a question that may never be answered.
