Iranian protesters chant 'death to the dictator' despite their government's threats of violence

An Iranian woman raises her fist amid the smoke of tear gas at the University of Tehran during a protest driven by anger over economic problems, in the capital Tehran on December 30, 2017.

(Image credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 31 December 2017

A third day of anti-government protests in Iran on Sunday saw demonstrators chanting "death to the dictator" and "death to Khamenei," the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite the government's warning that they will face an "iron fist" of punishment if unrest continues. So far, at least two protesters have been killed by gunshot wounds.

The protests started over state corruption and economic troubles but have taken on a more expansive mission. "Everyone is fed up with the situation, from the young to the old," one protester told The Guardian. "Every year thousands of students graduate, but there are no jobs for them. Fathers are also exhausted because they don't earn enough to provide for their family."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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