Iranian demonstrators reportedly try to enter government building amid 4th day of protests

Iran state media reports ‘leader of rioters’ arrested, as video from Fasa shows security forces firing toward protesters; Netanyahu said keeping mum so Tehran won’t have excuse to target Israel

Iranian protesters tried to break into a local government building in the southern Fars Province on Wednesday, state media said, on a fourth day of mounting demonstrations over the cost of living.

Protests over high inflation and a slump in the value of the local rial currency began among shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday, and have since drawn in students across the country.

“A few hours ago, an organized group tried to get into the governorate building in the city of Fasa; their attack failed with the intervention of security forces,” state media said. “The leader of these rioters, a 28-year-old woman, was arrested.”

Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited a local official as saying four “attackers” were detained and three members of the security forces had been wounded during the incident.

A video carried by state media showed a group of people trying to break open the gate of the building. Reuters verified the location of the footage but was not able to independently verify the timing.

Additional footage from Fasa, said to have been filmed Wednesday, showed security forces firing toward demonstrators.

The governor of Fasa told state media that “the protests were caused by inflation and economic conditions. Individuals influenced by hostile channels and media participated in them… the situation is back to normal.”

Iranian authorities have responded to previous protests over issues ranging from prices, drought, women’s rights and political freedoms with forceful security measures and extensive arrests.

This time, however, the government said it would also set up a “dialogue mechanism” with leaders of the demonstrations, the first major protests since Israeli and US strikes on Iran in June, which prompted widespread expressions of patriotic solidarity. It has not said how the mechanism would work.

While voicing support for previous anti-government protests in Iran and the toppling of the Islamic Republic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided not to publicly weigh in on the ongoing demonstrations due to concern that this will offer Tehran an excuse to target Israel in order to distract from the country’s economic woes, according to a Channel 12 news report Wednesday.

The network said the decision came following a briefing Netanyahu held on the matter at his hotel in West Palm Beach, where he met this week with US President Donald Trump to discuss, among other topics, the possibility of renewed military action against Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

“We’re watching dramatic domestic events in Iran, but it’s too early to tell what the ramifications will be,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 12.

Iran’s economy has faced significant challenges for years following the reimposition of US sanctions in 2018, when Trump withdrew from an international agreement concerning Iran’s nuclear program during his first term.

Iran’s rial currency has lost nearly half its value against the dollar in 2025, with inflation reaching 42.5% in December in a country where unrest has repeatedly flared in recent years.

In September, United Nations sanctions were reinstated, and Reuters reported in October that Iranian authorities held multiple high-level meetings to address economic instability, find ways to bypass sanctions, and handle public discontent.

In 2022, Iran faced protests across the country over price hikes, including for bread, a major staple.

Over the same period and into 2023, the country’s clerical rulers faced the boldest unrest in years, triggered by the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police, who enforce a strict female dress code.