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In late December, a new wave of protests broke out in Iran — eventually spreading around the country and across many sectors of society. Due to an internet blackout imposed on Jan. 8, information is limited, but reports suggest that thousands of Iranian protesters were killed in the government’s crackdown. The protests came at a time when the Iranian regime looked particularly vulnerable due to a struggling economy, an aging leadership, and a weakened regional position. The scale of the protests combined with the potential fragility of the regime raised hopes that Iran’s government might collapse. U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in, encouraging the protesters and promising U.S. support. However, the regime remains in place, and it appears that the protests have ended — or at least are more subdued.We asked four experts to offer their insights into the implications of these events for Iran’s domestic politics, regional position, nuclear program, and relationship with Russia.Read more below.Alex Vatanka Senior Fellow at the Middle East InstituteSupreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s refusal to engage with public grievances, his instinctive reliance on force, and the imposition of an information blackout on an unprecedented scale have transformed a governance failure into a profound legitimacy crisis.Crucially, there are still no open signs of meaningful defections within the political, security, or technocratic elite. The absence of elite movement leaves the state locked into a single playbook: coercion. If the leadership refuses meaningful change, the likely result will be a more agitated population, with pockets of the movement potentially going underground or even embracing armed resistance as peaceful avenues close. Iran has not reached that phase, but the trajectory of state behavior makes it more plausible than at any time in recent memory.What lies ahead is a grinding confrontation: Broader social coalitions will keep testing the system, while the