Iran International
The Western Iranian province of Ilam has emerged as one of the epicenters of nationwide protests, with some of the deadliest confrontations yet between demonstrators and security forces.
Roughly half of all reported fatalities so far—around 20 protesters—have occurred by direct gunfire in western provinces, according to activist and local reports.
Many of the deaths have occurred in Ilam, Lorestan, Chahar-Mahal and Bakhtiari, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, areas that have long ranked among Iran’s most economically deprived and are home largely to ethnic Kurdish and Lor populations.
The scale of unrest has been especially striking in Ilam.
On Tuesday night, videos showing large crowds protesting peacefully in Abdanan, a city of about 25,000, circulated widely on social media, surprising many Iranians.
A day later, similarly large demonstrations took place in Aligudarz, a city of fewer than 100,000 in neighboring Lorestan, where crowds chanted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Witness accounts and videos suggest participation levels unusual for cities of that size—an indication, activists say, of how deeply economic grievances and political anger have penetrated Iran’s smaller, poorer communities.
Despite this, state media have continued to minimize the protests.
The state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency described demonstrations in Lorestan as failed “riots,” claiming people “did not show up,” while acknowledging that inflation there has exceeded the national average.
Attack on hospital
Anger across Ilam intensified further after events at Imam Khomeini Hospital in the provincial capital on Sunday, following the transfer of wounded protesters from demonstrations in Arkavaz, the center of Malekshahi county.
State outlets accused protesters of attacking the hospital, saying police entered the facility to restore order. Eyewitnesses, however, described a security raid in which tear gas was fired inside the hospital and injured protesters were removed.
A rare on-the-ground report by the moderate daily Ham-Mihan, citing multiple witnesses and medical staff, said protesters arriving at the hospital were unarmed and had been shot after a peaceful march.
Several were already dead on arrival, while others later died from gunshot wounds, including injuries caused by military-grade bullets. Some families, the report said, rushed wounded relatives out of the hospital to prevent their arrest.
The incident drew a rare official response from the government.
The Health Ministry stressed the “sanctity” of medical facilities, saying any entry by security forces into hospitals or harm to patients violated humanitarian principles.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said damage to medical centers was unacceptable “under any circumstances” and announced that President Masoud Pezeshkian had ordered an investigation, dispatching a representative to Ilam to prepare a report.
For many residents, however, the episode has come to symbolize a broader breakdown: a protest movement spreading from Iran’s margins, met not only with lethal force in the streets, but—according to witnesses—even inside places meant to offer refuge.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.