Overview
- Exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi declared the Islamic Republic has reached the "end of the road" and urged support for a "new Iran" in posts on X.
- Iranian media and rights groups reported several deaths overnight into Thursday in cities including Lordegan and Kuhdasht, with unrest also noted in Isfahan province.
- Pahlavi appealed to security and law enforcement forces not to confront demonstrators and to join the public instead.
- Protests grew from bazaari shop closures to wider demonstrations by merchants and students across multiple cities such as Ahvaz, Hamadan, Qeshm, and Mashhad.
- Authorities offered to hold talks with trade unions and merchants, while analysts noted relatively passive crowd-control steps like shifting university classes online.