As Suren Edgar watched fireworks light up the Australian sky to welcome the new year, he imagined a different scene: gunshots and protests in his home country.
“Sometimes it’s hard being Iranian and living in Australia,” he told SBS News.
“We have democracy here, freedom, and we live in a peaceful situation… It’s a bit difficult when you live in a society like Australia, and your spirit is back there.”
Edgar, the vice-president of the Australian Iranian Community Alliance, said the recent protests had hit the community close to home.
“People in Iran are looking for a normal life. They come to the streets without weapons, they only have their lives in their hands,” he said.
“They come out into the streets and sing for their freedom.”
Since the protests broke out in Tehran a week ago, they have spread to 113 locations in 46 cities in the country. This was reported by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
It is the largest wave of demonstrations since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, which was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s mandatory hijab rule.
Although the recent protests were sparked by the country’s ongoing economic crisis, Edgar said other issues could quickly emerge as people take to the streets.
“We have a lot of problems there. It’s about freedom, it’s about human rights, women’s rights, it’s about the economy,” Edgar told SBS News.
“Any time, one of these situations can be a trigger for a protest.”
‘A protest against the establishment’
The mass protests began on Sunday when shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar went on strike as the country’s currency hit a record low against the US dollar.
Ian Parmeter, a researcher in Middle East studies at the Australian National University, told SBS News that this was fueled by “a perfect storm of very bad economic developments for Iran”.
“[The protest] shows that the regime itself is becoming increasingly unpopular.”
The Iranian rial lost almost half of its value against the US dollar in 2025, while inflation reached 42.5 percent in December. Meanwhile, food inflation has risen by 72.3 percent.
The country’s economy has been under pressure from the United Nations since the end of September has rolled back international sanctions related to the nuclear program that had been abolished ten years earlier.
“In addition, Iran is a very poorly governed country economically, with rampant corruption and mismanagement,” Parmeter said.
“The people themselves do not have any confidence in the regime to successfully manage the economy.”
The protesters’ demands were not exclusively economic; they chanted slogans such as “Death to the dictator,” referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and demanded regime change.
The protests have also reached universities: according to HRANA, fifteen student demonstrations are taking place at thirteen universities.
University students have historically been an important part of Iranian protest movements, including the 1979 revolution and anti-regime demonstrations since then.
Rana Dadpour, spokesperson for community group Australian United Solidarity for Iran (AUSIRAN), said the demonstration “quickly turned into a protest against the regime and against the establishment.”
“Iranians know very well that the problem is not just the economy, it’s not just water, it’s not just the pollution, it’s not just the gender apartheid that women in Iran are going through,” she told SBS News.
“This is all a collection of enormous problems that will not be solved as long as the regime is in power.”
‘They always respond with live ammunition’
Since the protests began, Iranian officials have said they “officially recognize” the protests.
Government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani has said: “We hear their voices, and we know that these come from natural pressures that come from the pressure on people’s livelihoods.”
But in recent days, some officials and government-backed media have taken a harsher tone, describing the protesters as rioters.
This can also be seen on the streets, as HRANA reports that at least eight protesters have lost their lives and dozens have been arrested.
Amirhesam Khodayarifard, one of the dead, was shot directly with live ammunition by Iranian forces, according to the Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Videos published on social media also show security forces using force against protesters.
“This is how the regime in Iran always reacts. They always react with live ammunition, with brutal force and oppression of people,” Dadpour said.
“Every life lost is a disaster. These are Iranian people who want nothing more than a normal life and a chance to choose what they want and how they want to live.”
‘I keep hope alive’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded by saying that Iran’s armed forces are “on standby and know exactly where to aim in the event of a breach of Iranian sovereignty.”
Parameter describes US intervention as a “wildcard” scenario that could influence the fate of the protests, while the second scenario is how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could respond.
“It is very difficult to say what intervention by the United States and Israel could actually achieve.”
In June 2025, Israel launched a series of attacks in Iran that were to begin Twelve days of conflict between the two sideswith the US intervening to intercept Iranian attacks and launch its own airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.
Since then there has been an uneasy truce.
As protests unfold in Iran and their outcome remains uncertain, some Iranian-Australians thousands of miles away are clinging to hope for a better future.
“I’m keeping hope alive,” Dadpour said.
“I think each of us is watching with stress and fear and at the same time keeping this hope alive – all we want to see is a free Iran.
“[Iran] can be one of the best, most peaceful and prosperous countries in the world, and this is something this regime prevents. And this is something that people in Iran want to happen.
“I think they will continue their resistance until this happens.”
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