DISINFO: Iran protests were radicalised by external elements, following the logic of colour revolutions
SUMMARY
When the first demonstrations in Iran erupted late last year, they were driven by socio-economic problems. Demands were quite pragmatic and came from real social groups, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei openly acknowledged people’s right to protest, recognizing the validity of their discontent and demands.[...]
By January 3 or 4, the initial demonstrators stopped protesting and returned to their jobs. But radical elements swiftly infiltrated the streets, using the social agenda as a pretext. The escalation of protests resulted in mass riots, assaults on infrastructure, and violence.
Initially, security forces acted with restraint. During the first days of the protests, law enforcement officials in various regions refrained from using force; they patrolled the streets unarmed and relied on minimal measures to maintain order. In stark contrast, radicalised groups employed incendiary devices, cold weapons, and firearms, resulting in casualties and escalating violence. For a significant portion of Iranian society, the protests lost the image of 'peaceful social discontent' and began to be associated with an attempt at violent destabilization, akin to the logic of 'colour revolutions.'
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying political developments as colour revolutions instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, to portray protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
The claims are demonstrably false. While economic factors were undoubtedly the main trigger of the protests in Iran in late December 2025 and January 2026, they almost immediately became political and were openly met with repression. Iranian authorities used massive violence against protesters from the start, killing 6 demonstrators on 01 January 2026, only 2 days after the beginning of the mobilisations, and another 11 protesters two days later. On the second day of the mobilisations, one policeman was also killed by protesters. On 05 January 2026, Iranian security forces killed at least three children. Finally, after Iran shot down internet throughout the country on 08 January, large-scale killings became widespread.
By groundlessly claiming that the protests were infiltrated by external elements with the purpose of radicalising them, and by framing the Iranian regime as moderate and responsible and merely reacting to these violence, this disinformation story is an attempt to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as ‘colour revolutions’ orchestrated from the outside.
See other examples of similar disinformation narrative, such as claims that Iran is a peaceful state unlike the US and Ukraine, that the West is trying to carry out a colour revolution in Iran, that the West may be behind the terrorist attack in Iran, or that the West arranges puppet governments through colour revolutions.