Iran’s leadership is facing its most acute challenge in years as violent unrest driven by economic hardship coincides with renewed military warnings from the United States and Israel.
The Islamic Republic is grappling with what officials privately describe as a ‘survival mode’ moment: a population pushed towards open revolt by financial collapse, and growing international pressure that raises the prospect of fresh military confrontation.
For decades, Iran’s rulers have relied on force to suppress dissent. However, analysts say the current crisis presents a dual threat that coercion alone cannot resolve-deepening economic misery at home and escalating geopolitical risks abroad.
The latest wave of protests has convulsed the country for more than a week.
While smaller than the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising or the nationwide fuel price protests of 2019, the violence and its timing have unsettled the clerical establishment.
Tensions intensified on Friday when U.S. President Donald Trump warned of direct intervention if Iranian authorities killed ‘peaceful protesters’.
"We are locked and loaded and ready to go," he wrote in a social media post.
Israel has also voiced public support for demonstrators. Gila Gamliel, Israel’s minister of innovation, science and technology, said in a video message: "Israel is with you, and we support you in every way possible."
Iranian officials were further rattled by events in Venezuela, where the U.S. military launched an intervention that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, a close ally of Tehran.
At a subsequent press conference, President Trump said Washington would oversee Venezuela’s political transition, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned other adversarial states to ‘take note’.
Ali Gholhaki, a hard-line political commentator in Iran, said the collapse of allied governments offered a stark warning.
"The lesson for Iran is that we must be extremely careful that the same scenario does not happen here," he said. "When security forces and the military struggle to survive economically, the defence lines collapse."
Following the U.S. warnings, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held an emergency late-night meeting, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
They said the council debated how to contain unrest using limited force to avoid provoking a U.S. response, while also preparing for possible air strikes.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has acknowledged the scale of the challenge. In his first address since the unrest began, he said: "Any policy in society that is unjust is doomed to fail. We must listen to the people."
Efforts to stabilise the economy, including replacing the central bank governor, have failed to halt the collapse of the national currency. Analysts say only the revival of the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions could ease the crisis, a move strongly opposed by hardliners within the establishment.
Iran’s economy has been under severe strain since the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018. Conditions worsened further after the reimposition of UN ‘snapback’ sanctions in September.
The risk of renewed conflict with Israel remains high.
Officials fear domestic instability could present an opportunity for further strikes, following Israeli attacks in June 2025 that triggered a brief regional conflict and damaged Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has taken a defiant tone, declaring that "rioters must be put in their place" while blaming foreign powers for the currency crisis. He acknowledged, however, that bazaar merchants had legitimate grievances over rising prices.
Protests that began with shop closures have escalated into clashes in several provinces. State-affiliated Fars News Agency reported what it described as "organised cells" using heavy weapons in western regions, including Ilam.
Videos circulating online show masked demonstrators firing weapons into the air and chanting slogans against the leadership.
In Tehran, participation remains uneven. While the central bazaar and university campuses have seen unrest, wealthier northern districts have continued largely unaffected.
A joint statement from 17 pro-democracy activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, urged security forces to stand aside.
‘"The only path to saving Iran is a transition away from the Islamic Republic," it said. "This demand is neither temporary nor suppressible."
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Iran has executed three men convicted of killing two police officers during anti-government protests in January, according to state media. The men were executed in Qom, central Iran, on Thursday (19 March) after their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court.
Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was sentenced to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, a group supporting her said on Sunday (8 February).
U.S., Israeli and European leaders exploited Iran’s economic problems and encouraged unrest during recent nationwide protests, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday (31 January).
The head of Hezbollah has issued a statement calling for mobilisation in support of Iran, using religious language and references to armed struggle that have raised concern among regional observers.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S is in talks with the new Iranian regime. He said this in a post on his Truth Social account but warned that the U.S. will "Obliterate" Iran's electric and oil facilities if no deal is reached, especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz closure.
NASA is aiming to launch its Artemis 2 mission on Wednesday (1 April), sending astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, officials confirmed. According to the Space Administration, the launch window is due to open at 23:24 GMT, with additional opportunities to 6 April if delays occur.
The Iran-U.S.-Israel conflict is intensifying, with fresh strikes near Tehran, European calls for restraint, and Iran threatening to target U.S. firms in the region, raising fears of a broader escalation across the Middle East.
The war in Iran has rapidly upended regional security, triggering spillover across the Middle East and raising fears of wider economic disruption that could threaten globalisation.
The Israeli military said on Monday that Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel, and an attack had also been launched from Yemen for the second time since the U.S.-Israeli war began on Tehran. It said two drones from Yemen were intercepted early 30 March but gave no further details.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum says around 25 kilometres of the TAPI gas pipeline have been laid in Herat province, as work continues on one of the region’s largest energy projects.
Three Armenian citizens have been charged following an alleged attempt to attack Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at St Anna Cathedral in Yerevan on 29 March. Analysts say the incident reflects rising tensions between the government and the Church ahead of upcoming elections.
A man previously convicted of spying on Türkiye has been arrested by Turkish and Syrian authorities after more than a decade on the run, Turkish security sources said on Monday.
Uzbekistan is hosting the fifth-anniversary Space Technology Conference - Central Eurasia (STC 2026), bringing together more than 400 delegates, 24 sponsors and representatives from 32 countries to discuss the region’s space industry and expand international cooperation.
Kazakhstan remains among the least dependent countries in Central Asia on Chinese capital, maintaining a diversified external debt structure and greater financial flexibility than its regional peers.
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