Mass protests have erupted across Iran calling for “death to the dictator” over the regime’s economic crisis.

Tear gas was used to disperse protesters as shops shuttered in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and main markets.  

University students called on their peers to join the demonstrations, while chants echoed from rooftops in several cities and the Iranian rial plunged to record lows, all against the backdrop of ongoing threats from Israel and the US.

Residents in one city near Tehran told The Telegraph that a heavy presence of armed motorcycle-mounted security forces was visible around midnight.

On Monday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Tehran while residents in Malard, 28 miles east of the capital, were faced with motorcycle-mounted armed security.

In several cities, people went on to their rooftops and chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and Ali Khamenei, its supreme leader.

The protests have been cheered on by Israel, whose foreign ministry hoping for Mr Khamenei’s overthrow welcomed the action with “open arms”.

Donald Trump also threatened military action on Monday if Iran rebuilds its nuclear or missile programmes, warning he will “knock the hell out of them”.

At several universities, students urged their peers to join demonstrations after protests erupted at Tehran University’s dormitory complex.

Security forces surrounded the dormitory on Monday evening and closed its gates with a heavy security presence around the campus.

Students living at the complex chanted slogans including “Woman, life, freedom”, “Students die but do not accept humiliation” and “Be afraid, be afraid, we are all together”.

One student inside the dormitory said: “They have closed the gates, and special forces on motorcycles are circling us. We are determined – some of us may be arrested, things could get worse – but we will not back down.”

Iranian universities have long been hubs of political activism, with students playing key roles in protests for decades.

Ahmadreza, a university student in Malard, told The Telegraph: “They [the protesters] have closed roads in several neighbourhoods, and chants are coming from all directions. People are also chanting from their rooftops.

“It’s almost impossible to move from one part of the city to another. There are police cars with cages. People are angry and exhausted as prices rise day by day.”

The protests began on Sunday afternoon after mobile phone and electronics shopkeepers in Tehran shut their stores as the rial currency fell to a record low of 1.42 million to the dollar.

Riot police in full gear confronted hundreds of demonstrators near Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and in the Saadi Street area on Monday afternoon.

Traders shut their shops and urged others to join the closures. Security forces maintained a heavy presence at multiple locations throughout the capital.

The currency recovered slightly to 1.38 million on Monday evening after the Islamic Republic’s central bank governor resigned but remains down approximately 40 per cent since June.

Iran’s currency collapse is compounding severe inflation. The state statistics centre reported inflation reached 42.2 per cent in December, up 1.8 percentage points from November.

Food prices surged 72 per cent, and health and medical items rose 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, said on Sunday in the parliament: “I have no motivation to remain in government or to remain president if I cannot solve the problems of the people and the deprived.

“This is not something I want to be proud of. We cannot govern while people have problems … they say salaries are low, so they are low, they say you are taking too much in taxes, so we are taking too much tax.

“On the other side, they say increase salaries. Someone tell me where I should get the money from to give?”

Mr Pezeshkian addressed the protests directly on Monday night after the demonstrations spread, saying he will listen to the protesters’ demands.

He said: “We have fundamental measures on the agenda to reform the monetary and banking system and preserve people’s purchasing power. 

“I have tasked the interior minister to listen to the rightful demands of the protesters through dialogue with their representatives, so that the government can act with full effort to resolve problems and respond responsibly.”

The rial was trading at 32,000 to the dollar in 2015 when Iran signed a nuclear accord with world powers that lifted international sanctions.

That agreement collapsed after Mr Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018.

Deal collapse

The deal completely collapsed in October and followed by the reimposition of UN sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal.

Iran last experienced nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Hundreds of people were killed, more than 20,000 arrested, and several executed in connection with those demonstrations.

State media acknowledged Monday’s protests but said that shopkeepers were concerned only about economic conditions.

State media reporters on the main 20:30 news programme sought to portray the protests as economic rather than anti-regime, showing scenes of normality on the streets and interviewing residents.

One resident said: “Please end this – end this. The price of the dollar is nonsense.”

Another shopkeeper said: “If we sell something today, we can’t buy it again at the same price tomorrow. The government should think about the situation.”

The government’s IRNA news agency reported that mobile phone vendors were reacting to business threats from the currency’s depreciation.

Iran also raised petrol prices this month, triggering warnings from lawmakers about a potential repeat of violent 2019 fuel protests that killed hundreds in what was then the deadliest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, the imprisoned Iranian politician and prominent dissident, said: “Now the time has come for all those who want a prosperous, free, and independent Iran to speak with one voice and call for the separation of religious institutions from political institutions, for the clergy to hand power back to the people, and to return to their traditional base in the seminaries.

“The safest and most reliable way out of the crises is to convene a constituent assembly and amend the constitution in line with the will of the nation.”