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Amid a near-total communications blackout, witness footage trickling out of Iran paints a picture of how the country’s largest uprising in decades spread — and turned deadly.
Jan. 13, 2026Updated 5:41 p.m. ET
For the past two weeks, Iran has been in the grip of protests challenging the country’s authoritarian clerical rulers. The uprising began as relatively modest demonstrations over economic woes, but when those grew into a mass movement, the government started a deadly crackdown.
Amid surging unrest, the Iranian authorities imposed a near-total communications shutdown, taking the country almost completely offline. With the amount of information coming out of the country significantly diminished, verification of the sparse video material from Iran has become critical to understanding what is happening there.
Here is what the visual evidence tells about how the greatest threat to the Iranian regime in decades has unfolded.
The Spark: A Crashing Currency
On Dec. 28, the Iranian rial plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar, unleashing a wave of anger. Within hours, shopkeepers in Tehran’s bazaars — the historic heart of Iran’s economy — organized a strike and took to the streets.
Social media videos verified by The New York Times show shopkeepers and merchants chanting in Charsou Mall and marching out onto the street.
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