Protesters push back security forces on Tehran’s Jomhouri Street

A senior Basij official said on Tuesday that the United States wants to restore Iran’s former monarchy, responding to pro-Pahlavi slogans heard in recent protests as unrest over economic conditions continues.

Ghasem Ghorishi, deputy head of IRGC’s Basij Organization, said the chants calling for the return of the Pahlavi dynasty reflected what he described as long-standing US hostility toward the Islamic Republic.

“One of America’s grudges is that it wants to continue a government whose path the Iranian people blocked,” Ghorishi said.

In broader remarks, he portrayed US policy as rooted in domination and regime change, saying Washington’s strategic goal was to remove governments that do not align with its interests.

He also referred to the June war with Israel as evidence of hostile intentions by Western powers, accusing critics inside Iran of either naivete or serving foreign agendas.

• Basij and protest response
• The Basij is a paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that has played a central role in policing unrest. During protest waves, Basij commanders often frame demonstrations as foreign-driven plots, particularly when chants target the Supreme Leader.

Protesters in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah shouted insults at security forces on Tuesday after officers moved in to disperse a demonstration, according to videos received by Iran International.

Footage showed security forces advancing on protesters as crowds shouted “bi-sharaf,” a Persian insult meaning “shameless,” one of the most common chants directed at security forces during protests.

The chants followed what residents described as an attempt by officers to suppress the protest.

Several members of Iran’s national wrestling teams deleted Instagram posts criticizing economic conditions on Tuesday, hours after sharing images and messages linked to ongoing protests.

Athletes from Iran’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling teams reposted images of protests and referred to the exchange rate and living costs in Instagram stories before removing them later the same day.

Those who deleted the posts included Greco-Roman wrestler Danial Sohrabi, a bronze medalist at the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb; Pouya Dadmarz, a world silver medalist; Mobin Azimi, an under-23 world champion in freestyle wrestling; and Greco-Roman wrestler Amir Abdi, a silver medalist at the Islamic Solidarity Games.

There was no public explanation from the athletes for removing the posts.

Alireza Dabir, head of Iran’s Wrestling Federation, has repeatedly said national team athletes should not comment on political or managerial issues, arguing such remarks distract from sporting performance.

Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday it had created a special panel with authority to pursue criminal cases against people accused of violating export foreign-exchange return rules, as the country grapples with sharp currency instability.

Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told a news conference that the head of the judiciary issued a new order on Monday to form the panel.

“He gave a new instruction for a special board to be created that must, with the cooperation of other officials and urgently, enter cases involving those who have committed currency crimes,” Jahangir said.

He said the focus included exporters who were required to return foreign currency proceeds but failed to do so, a practice officials blame for worsening volatility in the FX market.

Jahangir said the panel would have the power to launch criminal prosecutions related to those alleged violations.

Protesters marched in Tehran’s Vanak district on Tuesday, chanting slogans against Iran’s regional spending priorities as demonstrations continued across the capital, according to video received by Iran International.

Footage showed a group of people walking along Mollasadra Street in the Vanak neighborhood while chanting, “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran.”

The same slogan was also heard on Tuesday in Kermanshah, where protesters held a march, and at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, where students chanted it during a campus gathering.

The slogan has been used in past protest movements to criticize Iran’s financial and military involvement abroad amid domestic economic hardship.