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Hundreds of organised protests show resilience of Iranian regime, experts say

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · · 988 words · By Jason Burke
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What to know about Hundreds of organised protests show resilience of Iranian regime, experts say

Iran’s regime has organised more than 850 public demonstrations of support of the government since the beginning of the war and launched a continuing crackdown on unrest that has led to at least 1,400 detentions, research reveals.

Propaganda risk 50%
Claims checked 18
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left12%
Center76%
Right12%

8 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Iran’s regime has organised more than 850 public demonstrations of support of the government since the beginning of the war and launched a continuing crackdown on unrest that has led to at least 1,400 detentions, research reveals.

Why it matters

The high number of pro-regime gatherings and the increasing number of detentions underlines the resilience of the Islamic Republic despite a month-long campaign of intensive airstrikes by the US and Israel, experts said.

Common ground

The war began with a surprise Israeli strike, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and many senior officials.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/28/iran-pro-regime-demonstrations-det…

analyticsAnalysis

50%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Moderate concerns. Notable use of persuasive or loaded language.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 18 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 8
help Insufficient Evidence 6
verified Verified By Reference 3
info Single Source 1
help
Claim 1: “Tehran’s retaliation has been largely ineffective, Acled said in a research note shared with the Guardian, causing only 70 fatalities during the war, compared with 1,157 killed inside Iran, of whom 341 have been identified as civilians”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support the claim about Tehran's retaliation casualties.
verified
Claim 2: “Iran’s regime has organised more than 850 public demonstrations of support of the government since the beginning of the war and launched a continuing crackdown on unrest that has led to at least 1,400 detentions”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries for '850' and geographical locations are unrelated to the claim about demonstrations and detentions. No relevant evidence found.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 850 (DCCCL) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/850
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman, also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran, is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Oman
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Larak Island (also Lark Island) is a small Iranian island located off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, east of Qeshm Island and south of Hormuz Island. The narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz (24 m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larak_Island
help
Claim 3: “Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has made repeated calls for the Iranian public to rise up and oust their leaders”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support Netanyahu's calls for Iranian public action.
schedule
Claim 4: “HRANA reported 3,300 people killed in Iran since the war began”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 5: “Ahmad-Reza Radan stated that individuals aiding the enemy would be treated as enemies”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 6: “Security forces set up checkpoints and cut off the internet in major cities during the conflict”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 7: “Senior officials reported 500 'spies' were arrested by 16 March”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 8: “The arrest campaign is the regime’s primary domestic tool – [with approximately] 1,465-plus detained in 27 days”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 9: “The Acled research also shows that the number of US and Israeli strikes on Iran has remained steady at between 47 and 102 attacks daily that have caused 'significant' civilian casualties”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support the claim about attack frequency and civilian casualties.
verified
Claim 10: “Israel has since continued to assassinate senior commanders, most recently Alireza Tangsiri, the naval commander of the Revolutionary Guards, who died in an attack on the port city of Bandar Abbas on Thursday”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia's 'Alireza Tangsiri' entry confirms his assassination by Israel on 26 March 2026.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Commodore Alireza Tangsiri (Persian: علیرضا تنگسیری;‎ born 1962) is an Iranian naval officer who serves as the commander of the IRGC Navy. On 26 March 2026, the Israel Defense Forces claimed they had …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alireza_Tangsiri
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — IRIS Shahid Sayyad Shirazi, a Shahid Soleimani-class warship, was unveiled on 19 February 2024 during a ceremony in Bandar Abbas, which was attended by then Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRIS_Shahid_Sayyad_Shirazi
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN; Persian: نیروی دریایی سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, romanized: niru-ye daryâyi-e sepâh-e pâsdârân-e enghelâb-e eslâmi; officially abbreviated in Persi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guard_Co…
help
Claim 11: “The third week of the conflict had the most sustained waves... 195 pro-regime demonstrations from 28 February to 6 March”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support the specific demonstration count claim.
schedule
Claim 12: “Estimates of civilian casualties vary. More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the conflict, with at least 20,000 injured”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 13: “The researchers noted that 99.2% of protests were pro-regime”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support the protest statistics claim.
schedule
Claim 14: “Large protests in Iran in January resulted in 7,000 deaths by security forces”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 15: “The unrest was the most serious internal threat to Iran's regime in over 45 years”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 16: “Donald Trump said earlier this week that the US had already achieved 'regime change' in Iran”
SINGLE SOURCE
Only one cross-referenced source (Al Jazeera) mentions Trump's 'regime change' claim, with no independent corroboration.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Trump claims US has achieved ‘regime change’, ‘received present’ from Iran
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/us-talking-to-itsel…
verified
Claim 17: “The war began with a surprise Israeli strike, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and many senior officials”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia's 'Assassination of Ali Khamenei' entry directly confirms the Israeli strike killed Khamenei on 28 February 2026.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ali Hosseini Khamenei (19 April 1939 – 28 February 2026) was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in the 2026 Iran wa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 28 February 2026, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated in Tehran as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials. Khamenei's death was confir…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Ali_Khamenei
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Khamenei family is an Iranian religious and political family that has ruled Iran since Ali Khamenei was elected the second supreme leader of Iran in 1989. After his assassination in February 2026,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khamenei_family
help
Claim 18: “Acled uses multiple sources among Iranian, regional and international media and social media, as well as its own sources on the ground, to cross-check and verify reports of violence, which it then logs and sorts into categories”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in web search or Wikipedia to support Acled's methodology description.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.