Overview
- X implemented a platform-wide change replacing Iran’s official flag emoji with the Lion-and-Sun emblem, with company figures including Nikita Bier and engineer Jeremy Bier indicating and confirming the update.
- The new emoji appeared on accounts linked to Iranian state bodies before some removed the flag from their profiles, highlighting the switch’s reach across the service.
- In London, a protester scaled Iran’s embassy and hoisted the pre-revolution flag before police made two arrests, and the embassy later posted that its current flag was restored.
- Protests persist across Iran despite extensive internet and phone shutdowns, with rights groups reporting at least dozens of deaths and thousands detained, though tallies vary and are hard to verify.
- Iran’s leadership has signaled a hardline response, while diaspora rallies grew in European capitals and exiled figure Reza Pahlavi urged supporters to raise the old flag and intensify demonstrations.