{"id":341753,"date":"2026-01-21T08:27:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=341753"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:49:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:49:44","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-january-21-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-news-in-brief-news\/iran-news-in-brief-january-21-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran News in Brief \u2013 January 21, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iran nationwide protests 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS<\/h3>\n

UPDATE: 01:30 PM CET<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Irreversible Tide: Iran\u2019s Steady March toward Democratic Revolution<\/h3>\n

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In the third week of Iran\u2019s ongoing nationwide uprising, the landscape of resistance has shifted dramatically. Protesters in Ilam Province have reportedly gained effective control over two cities, driving back security forces and demonstrating a level of tactical organization that threatens the very survival of the clerical dictatorship.<\/p>\n

This is not an isolated outburst of anger; it is the culmination of a momentum that brought the regime to the brink of collapse in September 2022, building upon the foundations of defiance laid during the mass uprisings of 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

These successive movements have systematically chipped away at the mullahs\u2019 hold on power. While international observers categorized the 2022 protests as the greatest challenge to the ruling system since the 1979 revolution, the current uprising is poised to exceed its predecessor in both scale and intensity.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPDATE: 10:30 AM CET<\/strong><\/p>\n

Armed Militias Fire Heavy Machine Guns Through Tehran Streets in Deadly Night Attacks<\/h3>\n

\"Fox-News\"<\/p>\n

Gunfire echoed through Tehran Tuesday as\u00a0heavily armed militias<\/a>\u00a0were deployed across the Iranian capital, transforming some districts into fortified zones under intense security. Video footage showed bursts of automatic weapons after dark as government buildings, state media sites and major intersections were reportedly placed under guard, with armored pickups and masked fighters patrolling the streets in Toyotas. The trucks were mounted with heavy machine guns and were moving in convoys with weapons firing into the darkness as armed men shouted commands.<\/p>\n

“There has been a deployment of dozens of Toyotas mounted with heavy machine guns (DShK) and other heavy weapons\u00a0in Tehran<\/a>,” Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

“They are reportedly being used by elements linked to Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF),” he said.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iranian Opposition Leader: Foreign Military Power Won\u2019t Topple Clerical Regime, only \u2018Nationwide Resistance\u2019 Will<\/h3>\n

\"breitbart<\/p>\n

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi warned that the Islamic Republic\u2019s escalating violence against protesters has exposed a regime under strain \u2014 but not one on the verge of collapse \u2014 arguing that Tehran will not fall through foreign military intervention or external pressure alone, but only through an organized, nationwide resistance capable of dismantling its repressive core.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Rajavi \u2014 the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) \u2014 said recent developments have made clear that while Iran\u2019s clerical rulers are increasingly vulnerable, their weakening alone will not bring about the regime\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Blood Is the Last Currency of Iran’s Failing Theocracy<\/h3>\n

\"townhall-logo\"<\/p>\n

For half a century the Islamic Republic of Iran has clung to power by smoke and mirrors, basing their medieval tyranny on ideology, terror, economic mismanagement and repression. But the recent genocide under digital darkness is different. According to a harrowing report in\u00a0The Sunday Times,\u00a0<\/em>between 16,500 and 18,000 mostly young Iranians have been slaughtered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij militia in the nationwide uprising that erupted in late 2025. A staggering 360,000 have been injured, with thousands shot in the face by shotgun pellets and blinded. Many wounded have avoided hospitals entirely for fear of being arrested and dragged off to prison, torture and execution. The main Iranian opposition movement the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), puts the proven figure of those killed at 3,000, including seven of its members, whose identities have been confirmed, and arrests at 50,000.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Massacres in Iran Expose the Regime\u2019s Weakness \u2014 and the Danger of False Alternatives<\/h3>\n

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According to the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK), the number of people killed in the ongoing nationwide uprising in Iran has exceeded 3,000 between December 28 and January 11. The figures are based on investigations drawing on local sources, hospitals, forensic institutions, and the families of both the dead and the disappeared across 195 cities.<\/p>\n

This is not merely a tragedy. It is a large-scale crime against humanity.<\/p>\n

As the scale of the killings has become impossible to conceal, the regime has taken an unusual and revealing step: state television has displayed the bodies of some of those killed. At the same time, the authorities have attempted to portray the victims as \u201crioters\u201d or \u201cenemies of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not an expression of transparency, but a sign of desperation. When a regime must display dead bodies to intimidate its population, it reveals above all that it has lost control over both reality and the narrative.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPDATE: 08:00 AM CET<\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 24 of Iran Uprising; UN to Hold Emergency Session, MPs Attack Pezeshkian<\/h3>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

The nationwide uprising against the religious dictatorship in Iran has reached its twenty-fourth day on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. On Day 24, while the internet blackout continues to isolate the nation, the international community is mobilizing for an emergency session at the UN, and internal infighting among regime officials has reached a boiling point. On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, the twenty-fourth day of the uprising, the regime\u2019s desperate attempts to stifle the protests through censorship and brutality were met with continued resistance in the streets and growing condemnation abroad.<\/p>\n

Field Reports:<\/strong>\u00a0Intense hit-and-run clashes were reported in Tehran\u2019s Valiasr Street and Kermanshah. In Kerman, the regime is reportedly using the Afghan Fatemiyoun division to suppress protesters.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kimia Khani, Fourth Woman Executed in Iran in 2026<\/h3>\n

\"No<\/p>\n

She is the fourth woman executed in Iran during the first month of the 2026. Kimia Khani had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges. As of the time of this report, Iranian prison authorities and relevant state institutions have not issued any official announcement confirming the execution. Under the mullahs\u2019 rule in Iran, the operatives of the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 network, who traffic vast quantities of narcotics and addict the youth of Iran and the Middle East, openly supply prisoners in the regime\u2019s jails with drugs to break their resistance. Those responsible not only face no punishment but enjoy lives of extreme luxury, while vulnerable individuals such as Kimia Khani, driven by extreme poverty and unemployment, are sentenced to death and executed.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iranian Resistance Rally in Oslo Backs Iran Uprising, Urges Accountability for Regime Crimes<\/h3>\n
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