4th January 2026 - Iran is witnessing one of its most serious waves of unrest in years, as nationwide strikes and street protests enter a second week and expose growing cracks in the ruling theocracy’s ability to govern through fear and repression. What began as economic anger over currency collapse and unpaid wages has evolved into open defiance, with merchants, workers, students, and ordinary residents taking to the streets across multiple cities. As security forces respond with force, protesters are increasingly showing a willingness to confront repression rather than retreat, signalling a shift in the balance of fear that has long sustained the system.

At the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, presented her first comprehensive report on the country’s deteriorating human rights situation. The findings, outline a pattern of systematic repression and abuse. Sato’s report identifies an alarming rise in executions, an intensification of political repression, and widespread violence against women, alongside discrimination against minorities and the deliberate mistreatment of prisoners. Forced confessions, torture, and sexual abuse of detainees are cited as major concerns, amounting in some cases to crimes against humanity. She describes Iran’s justice system as one that “weaponises fear” to maintain power and silence dissent.

9th November 2025 - A cross-party conference at the UK Parliament, on 1st November, brought together Members of both Houses, human rights advocates, and members of the Iranian diaspora to address Iran’s escalating wave of executions and discuss the need for a stronger international stance toward Tehran. The meeting focused on the regime’s systematic use of the death penalty to suppress dissent and called for a policy shift that prioritises human rights and accountability.