News

Protests in Iran, day 26: Calm before the storm?

By: Arnt Jensvoll   23. January 2026, 07:00

It’s quiet on the Iranian surface. The news flow has dried up, old news is being recycled, there are few in-depth commentary articles, attention has turned to Greenland and Davos. But just because it’s quiet on the surface doesn’t mean it’s quiet underneath. Social media are raising great expectations for the events of the coming days: Will the US attack, when, where and how.

Information coming out of Iran is still highly uncertain. All figures differ and often vary from day to day. Official murder figures are between three and four thousand. Qualified estimates vary between 16 and 20 thousand. The most pessimistic operate with figures as high as 40,000.

– The end of the dictator is certain

– For those who haven’t realised the scale: In the 12-day war, Israel attacked Iran with 150 aircraft. The US has nearly 600 aircraft ready to strike. In addition, there are submarines, bombers and aeroplanes capable of launching drones and perhaps a Rapid Dragon.

Change of government in Iran is no longer a question of “if”, but “when”

.

– The US has deployed more troops in the Middle East this time around than in the first Gulf War, the second Gulf War and the Iraq War combined.

In the past 36 hours, the US has placed its 12th C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft at bases around Iran. Each C-17 can carry up to 77 tonnes of weapons and military equipment.

In addition to this airlift, a range of assets have already been deployed, including intelligence and surveillance aircraft, AWACS, electronic warfare platforms, drones, fighters, bombers, aerial refuelling aircraft, aircraft carriers and a significant number of nuclear-powered submarines.

The scale of this build-up signals a major change in the regional military posture, and the stakes are rising fast.

– The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier can stay at sea for over twenty years without refuelling, is 333 metres long, has room for 70 jets and can launch them at 240 km/h in just two seconds. This war machine is currently heading towards Iran.

– The destroyer USS Roosevelt has been redeployed from the Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean. The ship is capable of carrying SM 3 interceptors, suggesting the move is intended to bolster defences near Israel in case Iran launches ballistic missile strikes.

– A C-37A, the Air Force aircraft used to transport high-ranking US government and defence officials, has landed in the United Arab Emirates.

It is claimed that the electronic warfare is already underway. Iranian radar systems are said to have been “blinded” and put out of action at the same time as the US fleet went into “Dark Mode”. The information has not been confirmed by military or intelligence sources.

– Something big is going to happen tonight. Iran and Khamenei will remember it for the rest of their lives. The dictator’s end is certain.

Israel Force – @Israelarmyviews – is considered a sensationalised and unreliable source. However, a number of X accounts are discussing the possibility of a very imminent attack.

– Officers defect from IRGC

– Western intelligence agencies have in recent days for the first time detected cracks in the ranks of Iran’s security forces.

Several hundred officers have defected from the IRGC and the Basij organisation. While these are mid-level and even lower-level officers, it is at least a new and interesting phenomenon.

Several people have posted a video of the “clearing” of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London, which is perceived as a “security measure” to destroy evidence and shred documents related to illegal operations, criminal activity and espionage carried out under diplomatic cover. The same has reportedly happened in several European countries.

As tensions rise, footage has emerged of Islamic Republic of Iran embassies cleaning up and shredding large amounts of documents, a sign of growing unrest within the regime as pressure mounts.

Tousi TV enjoys great respect in the Iranian dissident community.

– Donald J. Trump is either on the verge of the greatest act of liberation in post-war history, or he will cement his position as worse than Jimmy Carter. The next few days will determine his legacy.

– We are not asking for charity. Under the UN, you have a legal and moral obligation to act when civilians are massacred and the state fails to protect them. In Iran, the state is the executioner, killing its own people with military weapons.

For years, you have made it easier for this regime to arm itself. If you remain silent, you are complicit in the bloodshed.

Tell us how many civilian deaths are enough for you to act? Do Iranian lives matter at all? Aren’t 16,000 men, women and children killed enough? Do all 23,000 detainees have to be slaughtered before you act? Where do you draw the line?</p

Or is your inaction because you continue to benefit from the Islamic Republic, the IRGC and dirty deals disguised as diplomacy?

We know that the EU has become weak and dependent on others for its own security. But you can at least

      • Declare the IRGC a terrorist organisation

.

History will remember who chose to remain silent.

No one has any idea how high the final death toll will end up

Imagine there’s a knock on your door at 4am in the morning. It’s not a neighbour. It’s not an emergency. It’s a raid. They’re not just coming to collect people, they’re coming to find the truth. They check your phone. They delete your videos. They undress you to count the bullet wounds – and turn your own body into evidence against you. This is phase two of the crime. The massacre took 25,000 lives in just 48 hours. Now they’re trying to kill the rebellious spirit of those who survived. They want fear to replace anger, silence to replace resistance. To the international community: How many more people have to die before “Never again” actually means something? When a regime bills a mother for the bullets used to kill her child, do you really think their cries of “Death to America” are empty words? The world is watching. The question is: Is anyone actually watching us?

– At her daughter’s grave, her mother stands with a picture of Sahba Rashtian and shouts: “I raised this angel for 23 years. Now I must see her in her grave.”

– We brought a young person to the hospital, shot in the leg. We received a body with his throat cut.

– 1,400 bodies of slain protesters at the stadium in the city of Kermanshah. That’s 1,400 dead in one small city alone! The total number of dead across Iran probably exceeds 20,000…

https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/2014453412956401937?s=20

Two tweets could not be embedded in the article. Presumably they are considered too strong for general publication. They can be sought out at personal responsibility and risk.

– Spoke to an Iranian engineer today. A bullet grazed his mum’s face. She couldn’t go to the hospital because they execute anyone who comes in with injuries. He estimates that 40,000 are dead. That’s more than Babi Yar.

– Look at the two videos from Tehranpars. The same person appears in both. In one, the person in red has no bullet wound on his forehead, while in the other, at the hospital, his forehead is pierced by a bullet. This shows that they are being shot, but the final shot is in the hospital.

https://twitter.com/justchangingun/status/2014464072763506791?s=20

– Just call me an Islamophobe. I don’t care. In my country people are being slaughtered in the name of Allah, in the name of Islam. Spare me your lessons on “tolerance”. The Islamic regime labels my unarmed people as “enemies of Allah” to legitimise killing them under Sharia. That is not faith. That is state-sanctioned terror.

Iran Human Rights: 25,000 may be killed

The post-Islamic era

– In Iran, traditional funerals mean that the Quran is recited. People have moved on. This generation is ditching the imposed ideology and has found its true roots. We are witnessing the birth of a secular identity.

– Iran has entered the post-Islamic era. Our national identity is rooted in a proud pre-Islamic heritage. The Islamic era, which we have all lived through, brought with it centuries of darkness and decline. The post-Islamic era will reunite Iranians with their authentic Zoroastrian identity and restore the deep sense of fulfilment that Islam deprived them of.

– Reports from Iran say executions are being carried out in secret, with no official announcement for fear of Trump. An 18-year-old girl has been executed and a 16-year-old boy is next.

The protests in Iran, day 25: The massacre of Iranians is rooted in a deep conflict between Iran and Islam

 

Les også