Images of Iranian women lighting cigarettes from burning photographs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have surfaced on social media as the citizens of the country are protesting amid rising economic hardships.In the middle eastern nation, setting fire to an image of the Supreme Leader in the past has led to state action. Last year in November, Iranian security forces raided the residence of an activist after he shared a video of himself burning a photograph of Khamenei, prompting him to go into hiding, according to a former political prisoner, Iran Wire reported. The TOI couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the images.The protests were triggered by the Iranian rial’s plunge to about 1.4 million against the US dollar, an unprecedented low that came as inflation crossed 50%, food prices jumped more than 70% year-on-year, and wages were rapidly eroded.The demonstrations lately have been the largest Iran has seen since the nationwide protests of 2022–23, which erupted after Mahsa Amini died in custody following her arrest for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Rights organisations have accused security forces of opening fire on demonstrators during the current unrest, with at least 62 people killed, AP reported. The Haalvsh rights group, which monitors the Baluch Sunni minority in the country’s southeast, said security forces shot at protesters in Zahedan, the main city of Sistan-Baluchistan province, after Friday prayers, resulting in an undisclosed number of casualties.
