Iran’s protest cycle: why the regime keeps the upper hand
Iran’s protest waves aren’t random. They’re cyclical—each one builds on the last—while the regime adapts faster through surveillance, informant networks, and rapid crackdowns designed to cut communications and keep evidence out of view. The result is a security-state model where street protest is treated as a threat, not politics, and ordinary civilians pay the price. The key signal isn’t whether protests happen—it’s whether the regime’s control machinery starts to fracture.
