Political situation in Iran

Internet shut down throughout Iran during protests

The Internet has been shut down throughout Iran during the ongoing protests, according to the online observer Netblocks, according to Reuters.

– There are huge crowds out in Tehran. It is unprecedented, a source tells CBS News.

The protests have been going on for twelve days and have spread to all corners of the country. According to human rights organizations, around 40 people have been killed and over 2,000 have been arrested.

The starting shot was fired when traders in Tehran's Grand Bazaar began demonstrating against high inflation and a falling currency by closing down their businesses. The protests spread and became violent when the regime deployed security forces.

Experts: The regime is going through a legitimacy crisis

The US intervention in Venezuela is giving energy to the protesters in Iran, but Trump is unlikely to do anything similar there – if the regime falls, it will be for other reasons, experts TT spoke to believe.

Several of them believe that the regime is going through a legitimacy crisis that is not only rooted in the economic situation, but also in the war against Israel this summer.

The population may have experienced that security and strength were the last things Iran had, despite the lack of democracy and a functioning economy, says Erika Holmquist, an analyst at the Swedish National Defense Research Institute (FOI).

– But the war showed that perhaps there is not at all the security that they had thought.