First Deaths Are Reported as Protests Grow Outside Tehran

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran's ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic's rural provinces, with at least six people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said. The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran's theocracy to the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, one on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in three cities predominantly home to Iran's Lur ethnic group, the AP reports.

• In the streets: The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. The current demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The most intense violence appeared to take place in Azna, a city in Iran's Lorestan province, some 185 miles southwest of Tehran. There, online videos purported to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: "Shameless! Shameless!" The semiofficial Fars news agency reported three people had been killed, while state-run media did not fully acknowledge the violence there or elsewhere.

• Deaths reported: In Lordegan, a city in Iran's Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, online videos showed demonstrators gathered on a street, with the sound of gunfire in the background. The footage matched known features of Lordegan, some 290 miles south of Tehran. Fars, citing an unidentified official, said two people had been killed during the protests Thursday. The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said two people had been killed there, identifying the dead as demonstrators. It also shared a still image of what appeared to be an Iranian police officer, wearing body armor and wielding a shotgun.

• The issues: "The protests that have occurred are due to economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations, and are an expression of livelihood concerns," said Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Lorestan province. "The voices of citizens must be heard carefully and tactfully, but people must not allow their demands to be strained by profit-seeking individuals." Iran's civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran's rial currency has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. The protesters have chanted against Iran's theocracy as well.