Name: How vulnerable is Iran's regime as protests show no sign of slowing? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-11T13:39:14.000Z
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Unrest continues to grow in Iran with street demonstrations raging in cities across the country.

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Protesters have been publicly calling for the end of the Islamic Republic

as its rulers look more and more vulnerable than during previous popular uprisings.

The exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has now called on demonstrators to seize Iranian city centers.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has refused to back down.

Authorities blacked out the Internet for a second night in a row

as rights groups say dozens of people have been killed.

Joining us now is political analyst Cornelius Adebar.

He is an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Cornelius, we have yet seen another night.

It seems as if people are turning out despite the Internet shutdown.

Well, I think the Internet shutdown is a sign of how serious these protests are for the regime.

It only instigated this after a week or a couple of days of protest.

So the regime is stepping up its response very obviously.

And yes, people take to the streets because they have reason to.

They have tried before in different formats, in different protests and uprisings.

And this is one which was sparked by the economic malaise in the country, by the fall of the rial, the currency.

And people really fear for their lives also outside of the protests.

They don't want to live in this particular situation anymore.

I'm curious, does this time feel different to you from like the many rounds of protests we've seen over the years?

I mean, 15 years ago there were millions of people taking to the streets because the election was forged.

We saw the Woman, Life, Freedom movement,

where people all across the country took to the streets after Masagina Amini was killed in custody for allegedly not wearing a proper headscarf.

So it is different in a sense that the appearances are different.

It doesn't yet have the level levels of people out on the streets.

The level of state repression is the same.

And the calls from the people are also pretty much the same.

They want an end to the Islamic Republic.

They want to be determining their own lives much more than they can under this regime.

Trump has reiterated, repeated his threat against the Iranian regime that he will intervene if many protesters are killed.

Well, I think we better take seriously what the US President says.

The question is how much does it help the people on the ground.

The Supreme Leader has now accused the protesters of appeasing Trump by taking to the streets.

It doesn't necessarily help them, much less would it probably help them if there was military force used by the United States.

So the Venezuela scenario definitely weighs on people's minds, but

it doesn't help the people who are risking their lives when they demonstrate now, when they protest now.

Since I'm sitting in Berlin, I want to talk about the EU.

After days of silence, the EU has put out a statement condemning the violence.

Does what the EU say make any difference?

Well, public attention always makes a difference to those inside the country.

And yes, even despite the blackout, people will know that people outside in the world take notice that they support people inside Iran.

But it is also a fact that the EU has lost leverage over the past years.

And the way that the EU has become more or less disinterested in the situation on the ground,

in how civil society is working, is something which is a long-term factor.

Countries like Germany, like European countries,

should be supporting Iranian civil society in the long term and not just any time when there is a flare up in protests or in a revolt.

Cornelius Adebar of the German Council on Foreign Relations, thank you very much.