The Mullahs’ Last Stand
Why This Iranian Uprising Could Change Everything The rial is in freefall, hitting record lows of 1.4–1.8 million per dollar, inflation is ravaging households at over 42% annually (with food prices surging 70–72% year-on-year), and bazaars that once propped up the regime are now shuttered in open revolt. What began as bread riots on December 28, 2025, has exploded into the most widespread, sustained challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution itself. Protests now rage across all 31 provinces and over 190 cities, with crowds in the hundreds of thousands battling security forces in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz,…