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A powerful image showing a lone Iranian protester defiantly sitting in front of armed security forces has drawn striking comparisons to the iconic “Tank Man” photo near Tiananmen Square — as fierce anti-regime protests engulf the Middle Eastern nation.
Footage obtained and shared by Iranian outlet Iran International shows a brave individual in all black sitting in the middle of the street in Tehran, their head calmly bowed, blocking police on motorbikes from riding down the road.
The moving image drew comparisons on social media to the historic photo of defiance taken of an unidentified man standing in front of tanks at the Tiananmen protests in 1989.
The image has been shared by Iranian-focused outlets. It comes as Iran faces violent unrest in Tehran and other cities over severe economic hardship, including a collapsing currency that is fueling an unprecedented affordability crisis.
At least seven people have been killed during the largest wave of demonstrations since 2022 — with angry crowds taking to the streets and shouting anti-regime slogans, such as “Death to the dictato” and “Death to Khamenei.”
The demonstrators are referring to Iran’s feared Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a more conciliatory tone at the start of the protests nearly a week ago, there’s been an increasingly heavy-handed response by armed forces in recent days.
Verified video shows dozens of people in front of a police station in flames as occasional gunshots rang out and others shouted “shameless, shameless,” at authorities overnight into Friday.
The rising violence has caught the attention of President Trump, who vowed to come to the defense of protesters.
A man stands in front of a convoy of tanks in the Avenue of Eternal Peace in Beijing in this June 5, 1989. REUTERS“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Iranian officials claimed that if the US jumped into action, it would lead to larger chaos across the region.
“Any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut,” Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X.
“The people of Iran properly know the experience of ‘being rescued’ by Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza,” the former Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary added.
With Post wires
English (US)