Like Tiananmen’s ‘Tank Man,’ Iran’s bazaari defiance signals potential regime collapse

As protests sweep across Iran, a powerful image likened to the “tank man” of Tiananmen is surfacing, echoing the historic challenge of the bazaari class amid economic collapse and growing calls for regime change.

As protests spreading across Iran enter their third day, an image of the demonstrations has gone viral on social media.

It shows a brave protester sitting in the street in front of armed security forces on motorbikes. The photo draws parallels to the infamous “Tank Man” photo taken in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

On June 5, 1989, an unidentified man briefly stopped a line of Chinese tanks on Chang’an Avenue near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The meeting took place the day after Chinese authorities decided to suppress weeks of pro-democracy protests, violently evacuating the square and surrounding streets. The crackdown, which came after nearly six weeks of protests, left hundreds dead, most in the surrounding area rather than inside the square itself.

The protests in Iran, at the time of writing, have yet to claim any casualties, but discontent with the regime and its financial mismanagement has led thousands to take to the streets.

The protests began on Sunday when Tehran’s bazari (merchant class) closed their shops and took to the streets after Iran’s economic crisis worsened, with the dollar reaching 1.4 million rials (official value 42,000 rials).

The country’s economic situation has been deteriorating for months and reached a peak on Sunday. On Monday, protests spread as bazaris led a strike in several neighborhoods of Tehran, before demonstrators took to the streets in other cities.

Other protests were recorded in Ahvaz, Hamadan, Qeshm and Mashhad, among others.

Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on Monday supported the protests that have erupted across Iran with a message to his supporters on social media.

“I send my greetings to you, the traders of the bazaar and the people who have taken charge of the streets,” the prince said in a video message.

“As long as this regime remains in power, the country’s economic situation will continue to deteriorate. Today is the time for greater solidarity.

“I call on all segments of society to join your fellow citizens in the streets and raise your voices to demand the downfall of this system. »

Videos of protests shared from Iran show crowds chanting support for Pahlavi, with shouts such as “This is the final battle! Pahlavi will return.”

There have also been calls for the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and for discontent over his policy of supporting Iranian proxies with billions of dollars as Iran’s economy suffers.

“No to Gaza, no to Lebanon. I give my life for Iran,” was among the slogans heard.

Mess problem

For centuries, Iran’s bazaari merchant class has played an outsized political role, acting as both an economic backbone and a mobilizing force in moments of national crisis. Rooted in the traditional bazaars of cities like Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Mashhad, the bazaars were closely linked to religious networks through religious endowments, giving them both financial leverage and moral authority.

This alliance became politically decisive during the Tobacco Protest of 1891–92, when bazaar closures and religious boycotts forced the Qajar shah to rescind a British concession, and again during the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–11, when merchants’ strikes and bazaar closures helped impose constitutional limits on royal power. The pattern repeated itself in the 1950s, when the bazaars supported Mohammad Mossadegh’s nationalization movement, and more dramatically in 1978–1979, when sustained bazaar strikes deprived the Pahlavi state of revenue and logistics, hastening the collapse of the monarchy.

Even under the Islamic Republic, which initially emerged from this alliance between clerics and bazaars, bazaars periodically reasserted their power through strikes and demonstrations, particularly during periods of economic hardship or monetary collapse.

The bazaar is therefore much more than just a market. It has the precedence of being a historical engine pushing Iran in one direction or the other.

But the question is: are the bazaris striking only out of financial misfortune, or are they also against the regime?

The Islamic Republic tried to appease them and bring order to the financial mess it created.

On Monday, the regime appointed former Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati as head of the central bank. His predecessor was dismissed in March due to high inflation.

In the eight months Hemmati served as economy minister, the rial lost nearly half its value against the dollar, according to some estimates.

Iranian state media also blamed the government’s recent economic liberalization policies for adding pressure on the rate of market opening.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian also tried to assuage people’s discontent, writing Monday evening on social media: “The people’s livelihood is my daily concern. We have fundamental actions on the agenda to reform the monetary and banking system and preserve the purchasing power of the people. I have instructed the Minister of the Interior to hear the legitimate demands of the protesters through dialogue with their representatives, so that the government can act with all its strength to resolve and respond to the problems responsibly.”

Mixed messages on Iranian internal protests

THE Jerusalem Post spoke with several people, both in Iran and with Iranians in exile, who are following events closely, with mixed messages.

“When bazaars rise, it means the end of the regime,” one Iranian told The Times newspaper. Jerusalem Post.

Others have stated that the Bazari class did not take to the streets to overthrow the Islamic Republic as a political movement, but rather simply to improve their financial situation, and that they do not intend to die for their cause.

Similarly, others told the Post that the most important faction that could actually bring about change was the students, another group that played a considerable role in the fall of the monarchy in 1979.

“We were waiting to see if the students would join us,” another observer told the Post. On Monday evening, reports emerged that students from four universities in Tehran had joined the protests, potentially signaling a positive addition to the protesters.

There is also the question of the government’s response. So far, armed security forces have fired tear gas at the crowds in an attempt to disperse them, but the regime has not yet unleashed its most powerful objects of repression, such as the Basij militia, against the population.

If this were the case, things could go wrong very quickly and the will and determination of the demonstrators would be severely tested.

These are things to watch out for in the days to come.