With Iran gripped by nationwide protests that activists say have left at least 2,600 people dead, we recently spoke with renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose latest film, It Was Just an Accident, was shot entirely in secret inside Iran and won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The film has since been shortlisted for an Oscar in the international feature category.
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Iran has been under a government-imposed internet blackout for the last week, and very little information has emerged. What we do know is that thousands have been killed since authorities launched a crackdown on protests that have spread across the country since late December. What started as anger centered in Tehran’s grand bazaar over the rapid fall in the value of Iran’s currency quickly…
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People continue to take to the streets all across Iran, even as state forces massacre protestors and the US ramps up sanctions and threatens military intervention. While a total internet blackout remains in effect in the country, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with award-winning Iranian-Canadian journalist Samira Mohyeddin about what we do and don’t know about the crisis unfolding in Iran right now.
Credits:
Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Samira Mohyeddin, can you please break down for us what we know about what’s happening in Iran right now, what we don’t know, and why specifically we don’t and can’t know more right now?
Samira Mohyeddin:
Iran has been under what is now past 130 hours of a nationwide internet blackout imposed by the state. What we are getting out are some reports from people who have Starlink and then also what we know leading up to the internet blackout. So protests against the dropping of Iran’s currency, which has dropped to its all time low, has really began on December 28th with the merchants in Tehhran’s grand bazaar. Those protests quickly escalated and spread to every single province in Iran. So it was not just confined to Tehran anymore. And it wasn’t just the merchant class, a wide demographic of people out on the streets. And they’re not just calling for economic reprieve or anything like that. This is now an existential problem for the Iranian government. They are calling for the downfall of the regime. They’re calling for the killing, the death of Khamenei, which is Iran’s supreme leader.
And you’re
The Trump White House took time out this weekend from openly mocking and threatening Venezuela, and justifying US immigration forces executing an unarmed American woman while ordering the FBI to investigate her widow, to, once again, feign concern for human rights in Iran. And, once again, US media dutifully lined up to repeat this clearly absurd motivation as genuine without any an ounce of critical reporting, context, or pushback.
Almost every major outlet has taken Trump’s alleged motivation for potentially bombing Iran of defending Iranian demonstrators at face value:
Wall Street Journal (1/11/26): “…a sign the president is considering reprimanding the regime for its crackdown on demonstrators as he has repeatedly threatened.”
New York Times (1/10/26): “Mr. Trump has not made a final decision [to bomb Iran], but the officials said he was seriously considering authorizing a strike in response to the Iranian regime’s efforts to suppress demonstrations set off by widespread economic grievances.’
New York Times (1/13/26): “…the Trump administration is simultaneously considering a range of measures, including possible military strikes, to try to prevent further killings of protesters.”
CNN (1/11/26): “President Donald Trump is weighing a series of potential military options in Iran following deadly protests in the country, two US officials told CNN, as he considers following through on his recent threats to strike the Iranian regime should it use lethal force against civilians.”
Washington Post (1/11/26): “The Trump administration is considering military options in response to the crackdown…”
Washington Post (1/13/26): “Trump’s escalating rhetoric and the soaring death toll from inside Iran come as the White House said this week that his administration was weighing diplomatic options while considering potential responses [to the
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in Iran as authorities crack down on protests against inflation and the government’s handling of the economic crisis, with thousands more arrested amid a nationwide communications blackout. The protests started in late December and quickly spread across the country, marking the strongest internal challenge to the Iranian government in years. Meanwhile…
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We speak to journalists Gideon Levy and Rami Khouri about President Trump’s meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump supported Israel’s threats to launch new attacks on Iran and warned Hamas to disarm during the second stage of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement. Khouri, a Palestinian American journalist, called the meeting a “continuation of the American…
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