Tehran, Iran — Hundreds of Iranian citizens gathered this week outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central Tehran to protest renewed diplomatic negotiations over the country’s nuclear program. The demonstration drew attention to rising public skepticism about the economic and strategic benefits of nuclear agreements and featured pronounced anti-Israel rhetoric, emblematic of the Islamic Republic’s entrenched state ideology and mounting regional tensions.
Demonstrators carried signs expressing frustration with the government’s diplomatic track record. Messages such as ‘We gained nothing from the nuclear deal, people are not fools’ and ‘We’ll sign another nuclear deal, and they’ll tear it up again’ captured the disillusionment following the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and particularly the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in 2018. These actions, combined with persistently high inflation and stringent international sanctions, have eroded public trust in the regime’s ability to secure meaningful relief for ordinary Iranians.
Alongside these criticisms of internal policy, protestors amplified the Islamic Republic’s aggressive regional posture with slogans targeting Israel. Placards reading ‘Death to Israel’ and denunciations of dialogue with the United States reflected both regime propaganda and a persistent, orchestrated public hostility toward Israel. Such expressions are consistent with decades of official rhetoric portraying Israel as a primary adversary and a rallying point for Iranian-backed militancy across the Middle East.
State Ideology and Regional Ambition
Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has maintained a foreign policy framework built on opposition to Israel and the West. Iranian leaders use such demonstrations as both a signal of domestic unity and as an instrument to project strength to their proxies abroad, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. Tehran provides these groups with funding, weapons, and training as part of an overarching strategy known as the “Axis of Resistance.”
This ideological orientation was violently manifest in the October 7th, 2023 massacre, in which Hamas terrorists—supported and armed by Tehran—launched a brutal attack on southern Israel. Over 1,200 civilians were murdered and hundreds taken hostage in acts widely condemned as the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust. Iranian officials lauded the assault, framing it as resistance, and demonstrations across Iran celebrated the violence—a reflection of both the regime’s animosity toward Israel and its ongoing campaign to disrupt regional security.
Internal Discontent and the Nuclear Issue
Despite fierce state control over public discourse, protests like the one at the Foreign Ministry reveal a complex picture within Iran. While regime loyalists leverage the language of revenge for the assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani—specifically, opposing negotiations with the U.S. or Israel in his name—other citizens express deepening cynicism toward the cost of the regime’s confrontational approach. This skepticism has grown with each cycle of negotiation and sanction, leaving many Iranians doubting the utility of further diplomatic engagements with the West.
The Biden administration’s attempts to revive the nuclear deal have so far been met by Iranian intransigence, including continued uranium enrichment and expanded clandestine military activities across the region. The protestors’ warnings about trust and futility echo a broader public disillusionment with the regime’s promises that nuclear diplomacy will lead to economic improvement or international rehabilitation.
Anti-Israel Hostility and the Regional Landscape
Central to the protest’s messaging was the reiteration of Iran’s enduring hostility toward Israel. For Tehran, Israel serves as both a symbol and a strategic enemy, an external adversary used to legitimize internal repression and justify its support for proxy violence across Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Gaza. These efforts have real consequences: Iranian weapons and operational guidance have fueled relentless rocket attacks on Israeli cities, repeated border clashes, and the entrenchment of terror networks throughout the region.
The October 7th attack and subsequent celebration in parts of Iranian society typify the regime’s commitment to this agenda—one that continues to imperil both regional stability and the safety of Israeli civilians. For Israel, the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, combined with the near-constant flow of weaponry and funding to its regional proxies, leaves no room for complacency. Israeli leaders have emphasized the existential nature of the Iranian challenge and continue to undertake both overt and covert operations to thwart Tehran’s nuclear weapons development and terrorist activities.
Societal Frustration and the Price of Ideological Intransigence
Beyond the slogans and banners, the demonstration in Tehran highlighted the growing divide between the regime’s revolutionary elite and broad segments of Iran’s population. Economic hardship, international isolation, and the unyielding cost of regional adventurism have left many Iranians weary, as seen in recent waves of unrest—most notably the 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.
While the regime’s hardline posture persists and its foreign policy remains unchanged, public dissent is increasingly visible. The Iranian government, however, continues to enforce strict censorship and deploy the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to quell dissent. This heavy-handed response is a stark reminder of the gulf between the aspirations of the Iranian people and the priorities of a regime dedicated to ideological confrontation and expansionism.
Global Implications
The protest outside the Foreign Ministry demonstrates the complex interplay of internal dissatisfaction and aggressive external policy within the Islamic Republic. While the world’s attention is often focused on the nuclear question or Iran’s proxy campaigns, moments like these underline the regime’s use of anti-Israel rhetoric as both a foreign policy tool and a means of domestic control.
For the broader region, continued instability emanating from Tehran poses ongoing threats. The unresolved nuclear issue, the entrenchment of armed proxies across multiple states, and the enduring campaign against Israel ensure that any diplomatic breakthrough will require not only careful negotiation but also a realistic assessment of the regime’s long-term intentions and its capacity for destabilization. Israel, for its part, has made clear that it will not permit the Islamic Republic or its terror networks to jeopardize its existence or the security of its citizens.
As world powers consider the future of engagement with Iran, the scene in central Tehran stands as a stark reminder: the challenge is not only diplomatic or technical—it is rooted in an ideology that has shaped the modern Middle East for over four decades. Until that reality is addressed, regional peace will remain elusive, and Israel’s vigilance will remain a necessity.
