Will these Iran protests bring the government down?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
The turmoil started in late December, when some Tehran merchants closed up shop to protest the free fall of Iran’s currency.
That initial outcry sparked a wave of protests across the country. Demonstrators demanded not just economic reform, but a total overhaul of Iran’s government and an end to repression. Some called for the ouster of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Now the government has cracked down, and there are reports that hundreds of protesters have been killed. The country has been under a communications blackout since Thursday, making it nearly impossible to assess the extent of the bloodshed.
Elahe Izadi speaks with Iran correspondent Yeganeh Torbati about how things boiled over - and what might be happening inside the country.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter.
You can learn more about Torbati's forthcoming book on Iran here. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All across Iran, people have flooded the streets to protest against the government. |
| 0:08.0 | We've seen massive crowds of people from all walks of life. |
| 0:15.0 | Shopkeepers, students, workers, the young, the old, demanding an end to the Islamic Republic. |
| 0:26.4 | And they're doing this in the face of grave danger. Security forces have responded with violence. |
| 0:34.3 | Since Thursday night, the government has cut Iranians off from communicating with the rest of the world. |
| 0:41.1 | Human rights groups say a massacre is unfolding under this comms blackout. |
| 0:46.6 | They report at least hundreds have been killed, with eyewitnesses telling them of overflowing hospitals |
| 0:52.5 | and casualties rising by the hour. |
| 0:56.4 | This is all unfolding at a time when the Islamic Republic has been weakened on the world stage. |
| 1:02.3 | Its economy is in shambles. Its international allies decimated. |
| 1:08.1 | And now U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing responses to the protest crackdown, |
| 1:13.9 | including military options. So could this be the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic? |
| 1:24.2 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 1:28.9 | I'm Elahe-Izadi. |
| 1:30.9 | It's Monday, January 12th. |
| 1:33.4 | Today, I'm joined by the Post's Iran correspondent, Yegane Torbati, who's been tracking these protests from the beginning, talking to people inside Iran constantly before the comms blackout. |
| 1:46.2 | She explains how we got here. |
| 1:49.3 | What makes these protests different from others in Iran before and whether the U.S. could get involved? |
| 1:56.1 | Yeganet joined me from Istanbul, Turkey, where she's based. |
| 2:03.8 | Hi, Jgane. |
| 2:05.5 | Hi, al-Ahe. |
| 2:07.0 | We are talking Monday morning, Eastern Standard Time. |
... |
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