Day: January 9, 2026

Iran’s streets have always spoken loudly, but the refrains they echo today tell a story far different from those heard in earlier years. Over the past decade and a half, the language of protest in Iran has not only shifted, but it has transformed the political imagination of a generation. What began in 2009 as religiously infused calls for reform has, by late 2025, increasingly given way to open invocations of Iran’s monarchist past and chants for the return of the Pahlavi dynasty. This evolution reflects a widening disillusionment with factional politics inside the Islamic Republic and a deeper search for alternatives to the status quo.