Localized clashes between protesters and security forces left three dead in Iran on Thursday, according to local media, the first since the start of this mobilization against the high cost of living.

The movement started on Sunday in the capital Tehran, where shopkeepers closed their shops to protest hyperinflation, currency depreciation and the economic slump, before spreading to universities and the rest of the country.

On Thursday, clashes were reported in medium-sized towns with tens of thousands of inhabitants.

In Lordegan (southwest), two civilians were killed, the Fars news agency reports.

According to this source, "protesters began throwing stones at administrative buildings, including the governorate, the mosque, the town hall and banks," and the police used tear gas.

It reports "significant damage" and the arrest of several people described as "ringleaders".

These protests, however, are not comparable at this stage with the movement that shook Iran at the end of 2022, after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman arrested for a veil that was allegedly ill-fitting.

"In hell"

Earlier on Thursday, a member of the security forces was killed during clashes this time in Kouhdasht (west).

Aged 21 and a member of the Basij, "he was defending public order," state television said, quoting the local governor, who reported "stone throwing" and 13 injured police officers.

The Basij forces are Islamist volunteer militias, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic.

President Massoud Pezeshkian on Thursday called for the mobilization of his government: "From an Islamic point of view (...), if we do not solve the problem of people's livelihoods, we will end up in hell," he said in a televised speech, specifying that this term referred to religious punishment.

On Wednesday, a government building was attacked in southern Iran in Fassa, while almost the entire country was placed on holiday, by decision of the authorities, who cited the cold and energy savings.

They have officially made no connection with the protests. Iran is at the start of a long weekend that will end on Sunday.

From the outset of the conflict, the authorities attempted to de-escalate the situation, acknowledging the "legitimate demands" linked to economic hardship. And Iranian media outlets are now referring to the protesters as demonstrators, whereas they had labeled them rioters during previous demonstrations.

But the justice system warned against any attempt to exploit the situation to sow chaos and promised "firmness".

"Tiananmen Moment"

"Any attempt" to transform this movement "into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property or implementation of scenarios conceived abroad will inevitably be met with a firm response," warned Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad.

Earlier this week, a video showing a person sitting in the middle of a Tehran street facing police officers on motorcycles went viral on social media, with some seeing it as a symbol of a "Tiananmen moment".

State television on Thursday accused the images of being staged to "create a symbol", and broadcast a video allegedly filmed from another angle by a police officer's body camera.

Sitting cross-legged, the protester remains impassive, head down, before covering his head with his jacket as behind him a crowd runs away from clouds of tear gas.

On Wednesday evening, the Tasnim news agency reported the arrest of seven people described as affiliated with "groups hostile to the Islamic Republic based in the United States and Europe".

Tasnim accused these people of having a "mission to turn demonstrations into violence" in the country, without specifying when or where these arrests took place.

The national currency, the rial, has lost more than a third of its value against the dollar in the past year, while double-digit hyperinflation has been weakening the purchasing power of Iranians for years, in a country suffocated by international sanctions related to the Iranian nuclear program.

The inflation rate in December was 52% year-on-year, according to the Iranian Statistical Center, an official body.