The 2026 Protest Movement in Iran: Legitimate Grievances Caught Between Repression and Instrumentalisation

This infographic aims to shed light on the internal factors driving mobilisations on the one hand, and on the other, the limits facing dissent from within, based on testimonies of Iranian activists collected in January-February 2026. It also highlights social contention in the current context of the war on Iran as of the 28th February 2026, which glaringly aimed to overthrow the Iranian regime. Moreover, it has become increasingly clear that the US-Israeli aggression is speculating on the Iranian social movements as potential agents of regime change, which also instrumentalises protest actors, a tactic that erodes their legitimate aspirations and mirrors the Iranian regime’s own practices against protesters.