As Iran’s currency continues its free fall, the country’s traditional economic backbone, the bazaar, has once again become a center of revolt. For two days, shopkeepers in Tehran, Karaj, and Malard closed their businesses in protest against the disastrous economic situation and the chaos in the foreign exchange market. What began as an economic protest quickly turned political.
From Tehran’s Grand Bazaar to the Saadi metro station, citizens chanted slogans directly targeting the core of the Islamic Republic. Cries of “Death to the Dictator” echoed alongside slogans supporting the Pahlavi legacy. In Malard’s Marlik neighborhood, protesters declared: “This is the final battle Pahlavi will return.” In central Tehran, chants of “Reza Shah, rest in peace” made clear that this was not merely about inflation or the dollar - it was about legitimacy.
As expected, the regime responded not with solutions, but with force. A heavy security presence has been deployed across Tehran and other cities, with security units sent to suppress protests. Meanwhile, various guilds and student groups have issued calls for nationwide demonstrations, signaling that this unrest is far from over.
The Deception of Masoud Pezeshkian
Against this backdrop, Masoud Pezeshkian, the so-called “reformist” president of the Islamic Republic, continues to perform a familiar act of political deception.
“I have come to serve the people,” Pezeshkian claims. “If I hold responsibility, my duty is to solve their problems.” He speaks of hunger, poverty, and justice, swearing by God and the Prophet that solutions are possible if only there were unity of language and vision.
Yet in his latest televised interview, Pezeshkian reverted to the regime’s oldest excuse: blaming Israel and the United States. He claimed that Washington and Jerusalem are engaged in an all-out assault to bring Iran to its knees.
This narrative collapses under the weight of reality.
-Are Israel and the United States responsible for the unemployment of thousands of educated Iranian youths?
-Are they responsible for more than 2,200 executions carried out in Iran last year alone?
-Did Israel and America auction off Iran’s national wealth to finance Islamist militias, proxy wars, and regional chaos across the Middle East?
-Were they behind the media manipulation campaign from London to Los Angeles by regime-linked “reformists” who openly promoted Pezeshkian to manufacture votes?
Every promise made by the so-called reformist camp to bring Pezeshkian to power has proven to be a lie. When these promises collapse, the regime reflexively points abroad. But responsibility lies at home.
The Islamic Republic speaks endlessly of the “Islamic Ummah” and the “Islamic state,” yet the moment pressure intensifies, it hides behind the name of Iran itself. This identity theft wrapping clerical rule in Iranian nationalism is neither accidental nor new. It reflects a system built on deception, ideological fraud, and coercion.
So, we must ask:
Who truly will bring Iran to its knees?
Iran’s historical foundation was not clerical absolutism, but Iranian statehood and kingship, refined over centuries. The Islamic Republic is a toxic aberration, a foreign graft imposed on a deep-rooted civilization. Why should Iranians continue to bear this stain?
The answer is increasingly clear.
A new generation has begun a new uprising.
And this time, the regime’s old tricks fear, lies, and foreign scapegoats are no longer working.