Protests Erupt in Tehran's Bazaar

Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
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Protests Erupt in Tehran's Bazaar

Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter

Protesters in Tehran's bazaar have chanted slogans denouncing the regime amid tight security measures on the 107th day of public protests in Iran.

Online account "1,500 Tasvir," which closely follows the Iranian protests, published a video showing a state of panic in the bazaar and chants of "death to the dictator" and "poverty, corruption, and high prices will overthrow the regime."

Social media activists had called for rallies in Tehran and other cities in Iran to protest the economic situation and reported that bazaar shop owners went on strike.

On Thursday, state media reported that Iran appointed a new central bank governor.

Iran's currency has lost a quarter of its value since the protests erupted three months ago, dropping to a record low in the unofficial free market as desperate Iranians buy dollars and gold, trying to protect their savings.

The new head of the central bank, Mohammad Reza Farzin, told state television on Friday that the central bank's most important responsibility is to control inflation and the foreign currency rate.

Farzin announced the bank's intervention in the market as he began his first official day at work.

Meanwhile, activists reported that at least one person was killed in Javanrud after security forces opened fire on people who gathered for a mourning ceremony making the fortieth day of the death of demonstrators in November.

People chanted "death to Khamenei" to resist security forces.

According to the Hengaw organization for human rights, security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas, killing one and injuring eight other people in a local cemetery.

A day earlier, Hengaw reported that 126 protesters were killed in Kurdish cities, including 19 children, since the outbreak of the protests.

Iran has been witnessing protests since September 16, following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was killed during her arrest by the morality police.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported small gatherings in various cities in Iran and published videos of protesters chanting against the regime.

The 1,500 Tasvir observatory showed crowds in the center of Balochistan province chanting "Death to the dictator" in reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Balochs make up the majority of the impoverished province, which has a population of two million and has been suffering from discrimination, deprivation, and oppression for decades.

The protests are one of the boldest challenges facing the "guardianship of the jurist" regime since the 1979 revolution.

The authorities blamed the protesters, charging them with "destroying public property," and claiming they were trained and armed by enemies of the state and foreign countries.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said that his country would not show mercy to "enemies" of the regime.

HRANA said that 508 protesters had been killed as of Friday, including 69 minors. It added that 66 members of the security forces were also killed.

The organization estimated that the number of detainees reached 19,199 demonstrators.

According to the Oslo-based Human Rights Organization in Iran, 476 demonstrators were killed.

Iranian officials said that up to 300 people, including members of the security forces, have died in the unrest.

Last week, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal for a death sentence against rapper Saman Saidi Yassin but confirmed the same penalty against protester Mohamed Qabadlo.

Earlier this month, the court suspended the death penalty for protester Mahan Sedarat, accused of various crimes, including stabbing an officer and setting a motorcycle on fire.

On Saturday, the Iranian judiciary's spokesperson, Mizan, reported that the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of a defendant who had been sentenced to death.

Human rights organizations outside Iran reported that the Supreme Court accepted the appeal for a death penalty sentence against Sahand Noor Mohammadzadeh, who was accused of damaging public property.

Mizan reported that the court accepted his appeal and sent his case back for review based on new evidence.

Iranian courts have imposed death sentences in more than a dozen cases, based on charges such as "moharebeh" after convicting protesters of killing or injuring members of the security forces, destroying public property, and terrorizing the public, according to Reuters.

Last Tuesday, the Human Rights Organization in Iran, which tracks executions, warned that at least 100 protesters face the risk of execution, charges that carry the death penalty, or the possibility of death sentences being issued against them.



Trump-Musk Showdown Threatens US Space Plans

This combination of pictures created on June 06, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 12, 2025 and Elon Musk exiting Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on March 22, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on June 06, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 12, 2025 and Elon Musk exiting Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on March 22, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
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Trump-Musk Showdown Threatens US Space Plans

This combination of pictures created on June 06, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 12, 2025 and Elon Musk exiting Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on March 22, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on June 06, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 12, 2025 and Elon Musk exiting Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on March 22, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

SpaceX's rockets ferry US astronauts to the International Space Station. Its Starlink satellite constellation blankets the globe with broadband, and the company is embedded in some of the Pentagon's most sensitive projects, including tracking hypersonic missiles.  

So when President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to cancel Elon Musk's federal contracts, space watchers snapped to attention.

Musk, the world's richest person, shot back that he would mothball Dragon -- the capsule NASA relies on for crew flights -- before retracting the threat a few hours later.

For now, experts say mutual dependence should keep a full-blown rupture at bay, but the episode exposes just how disruptive any break could be.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX leapfrogged legacy contractors to become the world's dominant launch provider.

Driven by Musk's ambition to make humanity multiplanetary, it is now NASA's sole means of sending astronauts to the ISS -- a symbol of post–Cold War cooperation and a testbed for deeper space missions.

Space monopoly?

The company has completed 10 regular crew rotations to the orbiting lab and is contracted for four more, under a deal worth nearly $5 billion.

That's just part of a broader portfolio that includes $4 billion from NASA for developing Starship, the next-generation megarocket; nearly $6 billion from the Space Force for launch services; and a reported $1.8 billion for Starshield, a classified spy satellite network.

Were Dragon grounded, the United States would again be forced to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets for ISS access -- as it did between 2011 and 2020, following the Space Shuttle's retirement and before Crew Dragon entered service.

"Under the current geopolitical climate, that would not be optimal," space analyst Laura Forczyk told AFP.

NASA had hoped Boeing's Starliner would provide redundancy, but persistent delays -- and a failed crewed test last year -- have kept it grounded.

Even Northrop Grumman's cargo missions now rely on SpaceX's Falcon 9, the workhorse of its rocket fleet.

The situation also casts a shadow over NASA's Artemis program.

A lunar lander variant of Starship is slated for Artemis III and IV, the next US crewed Moon missions. If Starship were sidelined, rival Blue Origin could benefit -- but the timeline would almost certainly slip, giving China, which aims to land humans by 2030, a chance to get there first, Forczyk warned.

"There are very few launch vehicles as capable as Falcon 9 -- it isn't feasible to walk away as easily as President Trump might assume," she said.

NASA meanwhile appeared eager to show that it had options.

"NASA is assessing the earliest potential for a Starliner flight to the International Space Station in early 2026, pending system certification and resolution of Starliner's technical issues," the agency said in a statement Friday to AFP.

Still, the feud could sour Trump on space altogether, Forczyk cautioned, complicating NASA's long-term plans.

SpaceX isn't entirely dependent on the US government. Starlink subscriptions and commercial launches account for a significant share of its revenue, and the company also flies private missions.

The next, with partner Axiom Space, will carry astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary, funded by their respective governments.

Private power, public risk

But losing US government contracts would still be a major blow.

"It's such a doomsday scenario for both parties that it's hard to envision how US space efforts would fill the gap," Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP.

"Both sides have every reason to bridge the disagreement and get back to business."

Signs of a rift emerged last weekend, when the White House abruptly withdrew its nomination of e-payments billionaire Jared Isaacman -- a close Musk ally who has twice flown to space with SpaceX -- as NASA administrator.

On a recent podcast, Isaacman said he believed he was dropped because "some people had some axes to grind, and I was a good, visible target."

The broader episode could also reignite debate over Washington's reliance on commercial partners, particularly when one company holds such a dominant position.

Swope noted that while the US government has long favored buying services from industry, military leaders tend to prefer owning the systems they depend on.

"This is just another data point that might bolster the case for why it can be risky," he said. "I think that seed has been planted in a lot of people's minds -- that it might not be worth the trust."