By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel in Chula Vista, California
The inferno of dissent now raging across Iran’s vast plateau has sent shockwaves reverberating far beyond the shuttered gates of Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar. As of December 30, 2025—the third day of escalating unrest—the catastrophic collapse of the rial, which plunged to record lows around 1.4 million to the US dollar over the weekend, has ignited what many are calling the “year of blood” uprising. What began as desperate cries over bread, soaring inflation (now exceeding 42%), and a dying currency has exploded into a nationwide insurrection that refuses to be quelled by tear gas, live ammunition, or the regime’s frantic attempts at containment.
The streets of Tehran and beyond blaze with righteous fury. On Sunday, December 28, merchants in the Grand Bazaar and major commercial districts shut their shops in protest, marking a historic betrayal by a class once instrumental in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. By Monday and Tuesday, the strikes spread relentlessly: goldsmiths, tech vendors, and wholesalers in areas like Alaeddin Mall, Charsou Commercial Complex, Shush market, and Lalehzar joined the shutdowns. Protesters marched through Jomhuri Street, Naser Khosrow, and Istanbul Intersection, clashing with security forces who unleashed tear gas and batons. Defiant individuals, echoing the iconic “Tank Man” of Tiananmen Square, stood unarmed before armored vehicles and riot police, offering their bodies as living monuments of resistance—often swallowed by the regime’s brutal crackdown.
This is no ordinary protest; it is a profound rupture in the foundations of the Islamic Republic, a battle for the very soul of the nation. Economic grievances have rapidly morphed into explicit political demands. Chants of “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” now drown out initial pleas for relief, as the blood-red sunset of the rial’s collapse gives way to a defiant political dawn. From the northern city of Zanjan to the southern island of Qeshm, from Hamadan in the west to Mashhad in the east, and from Isfahan to Shiraz, the slogans cut like jagged glass against the throat of the theocracy: “This year is the year of blood! Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown!” Other cries reject the regime’s foreign adventures—”No Gaza, no Lebanon, my life for Iran”—while invoking monarchy’s return: “Long Live the Shah!”, “Reza Shah, bless your soul”, and “This is the final battle, and Pahlavi will return”—direct calls for exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to lead a restoration.
Israelis everywhere are praying for the Iranians.
The protest movement has expanded dramatically to universities, where students at Amirkabir, Tehran University, Sharif University of Technology, Shahid Beheshti, and others have joined the fray. On December 30, campuses erupted in solidarity marches, with chants of “Students would rather die than be humiliated”; “Don’t be afraid, we are all together”; and “Death to the principle of Velayat-e Faqih.” In some instances, students confronted Basij paramilitaries head-on, forcing retreats amid heavy repression—including reports of severe injuries and arrests. Women have been at the forefront, their presence amplifying the call for dignity and freedom.
While President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered conciliatory words—urging officials to hear “legitimate demands” and reshuffling the Central Bank governor in a last-ditch bid to stabilize the currency—the regime’s response betrays panic. Security forces have been deployed en masse, with clashes reported in multiple cities, yet the bazaaris (merchants), students, workers, retirees, and ordinary citizens remain united. Exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has seized the moment, calling on all sectors—government employees, truck drivers, teachers, nurses—to expand strikes and “take control of the streets,” declaring it a “national revolution” that will triumph through unity.
The message to the clerics is singular and devastating: an era is ending. The Iranian people will no longer tolerate being guests in a land made foreign by decades of oppression, corruption, and misrule. As the “year of blood” chants grow louder into the night, the distance between the regime’s crumbling authority and the people’s unyielding resolve narrows by the hour. What started as an economic spark has become a fire that threatens to consume the Islamic Republic itself—a global spectacle unfolding in real time.
One would think that American universities would protest on the side of the Iranian people, but this has hardly been the case. University administrations are treading carefully. Having faced immense pressure over previous protests regarding Gaza, many presidents are hesitant to take a formal political stance. However, departments of Middle Eastern Studies are seeing a surge in “emergency teach-ins.” Scholars are debating whether this is a “true revolution” or a “hunger riot,” with many leftist faculty members expressing caution about “Western-backed regime change,” even while condemning the regime’s brutality.
On an optimistic note, there is a movement among American students to frame the Iranian struggle not just as a feminist or economic issue, but as a secular liberation movement. This has led to rare moments of alignment between progressive activists and conservative campus groups, both of whom view the clerical theocracy as an ultimate adversary to human rights.
However, there seems to be more icy indifference because the mullahs are at the epicenter of the problem and not Israel.
Let us pray that the Iranian people will bring about a new revolution and reclaim their sovereignty and freedom. The coming days will test this theory. As the “year of blood” chants grow louder, the distance between the “pure ether” of the students’ ideals and the “field of the flesh” where the battles are fought is narrowing. The “final battle” is no longer a slogan—it is a global event.
Western nations must do their utmost to bring about the lasting changes that offer the Iranians a vision of hope and renewal.
To facilitate the success of the Iranian revolution while minimizing regional instability, Western and Arab nations must move beyond rhetoric toward a strategy of “digital and financial strangulation.” Practically, Western powers should provide robust, unblockable satellite internet (such as advanced Starlink constellations) and “anti-filtering” technologies to ensure the protesters can coordinate across provinces and leak evidence of regime atrocities in real-time. Simultaneously, the U.S. and EU should implement “secondary sanctions” that target the IRGC’s global shadow economy—specifically the front companies in East Asia and the UAE that facilitate the smuggling of oil and electronics. By freezing the private assets of high-ranking officials and their families abroad, the West can signal to the regime’s inner circle that their personal “exit strategies” are being permanently severed, incentivizing defections within the security apparatus.
For Arab nations, the most effective practical steps involve “regional containment and diplomatic isolation.” Gulf states can leverage their intelligence networks to monitor and disrupt the flow of Iranian arms and funds to regional proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis, effectively forcing the IRGC to focus its dwindling resources inward rather than on foreign expansion. Arab media outlets, which have immense reach within Iran’s ethnic minority regions (such as Khuzestan and Sistan-Baluchestan), can play a vital role in counter-propaganda, highlighting the regime’s “economic treason” against its own people. Furthermore, Arab nations can offer a “bridge of stability” by publicly engaging with secular Iranian opposition councils, signaling that a post-Ayatollah Iran would be welcomed back into the regional fold with immediate investment and trade, thereby easing the “fear of the unknown” that often keeps the silent majority from joining the streets.
Let us pray that the Iranians pray for life.
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Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel is an author and the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista, California.