Welcome to the first podcast of the NCRI Women's Committee in 2026. And it is, quite an intense start to the year. The first days of January have been anything but quiet. Not. It really confirms that the upheaval from late last year has entered a new and I think much more decisive phase of confrontation.

It really has. The new year just began with this eruption of anti regime protests across Iran, and the movement has well, it's escalated so rapidly. It's spread to at least a 145 cities. And our latest reports are suggesting that number is actually climbing closer to 150. It's just a massive geographic footprint.

It's huge. It is. And for you, our listener, the mission of this deep dive is really essential. We're gonna try to compile the recent events, drawing just from the sources we've gathered to highlight the, the critical and defining role women have played in leading this uprising. Right.

We need to go beyond the headlines and really analyze why their leadership is so central right now. So, okay, let's unpack the scale first because the scope of this is it's a crucial detail. It is. The sources are really emphasizing that this isn't just a regional thing. Yeah.

It's not confined to one province or one ethnic group. It's universal. It is. And what's fascinating is the, strategy. It's like a strategy of saturation.

It has spread across every single province, turning streets, universities, bazaars, even residential neighborhood into, you know, simultaneous arenas of direct confrontation. Which has to be a strategic nightmare for the authorities. Oh, absolutely. Right. It fractures their ability to repress everyone at once.

They're stretched thin across the entire country. And the message coming out of these confrontations, it's not reformist. It's revolutionary. I mean, you look at the key slogans and they are completely unambiguous about the goal. Yeah.

You hear the fundamental demands like death to Khamenei, death to the dictator. Very direct. It's challenging the head of the whole structure but I think if you want to understand the sort of the sheer determination right now, have to listen to this unifying chant that's become a rallying cry. Which one is that? This year is the year of sacrifice. Seyyed Ali (Khamenei) will be overthrown.

It's a declaration. It's a commitment to see this through within a specific time frame. Wow. But what's also interesting when you connect that geographical spread to the political message is that the conversation about Iran's future is broadening.

It's not just about the current regime anymore. That's a great point. Our sources are confirming this shift. We've seen much broader political slogans emerge in cities like Tabriz and Mashhad. For instance, the chant, death to the oppressor, whether Shah or the mullah's leader.

Now that's a powerful political statement. It is. It unites people who oppose the old authoritarianism with those fighting the current one. And we heard an even more explicit version from the students. Right?

From Allameh Tabatabaii University, the cry was neither monarchy nor the mullahs. Leadership, freedom, and equality. Exactly. It signals a profound desire for something completely new. A democratic system built on rights.

And when we talk about freedom and equality, we have to pivot to the, well, the defining characteristic of this whole uprising. The visible undeniable leadership from women. Exactly. Our reports confirm that young women and girls, they aren't just participants. They are allowed.

They're outspoken. And in a lot of these demonstrations, they are the functional majority. Their courage is strategically important because it just directly challenges the regime's security narrative that these are, you know, marginal protests or driven by outsiders.

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