Thousands of residents took to the streets of Mashhad after the killing of Khosro Alikardi, a lawyer known for representing political prisoners in Iran. During the protest, demonstrators chanted slogans openly supporting Reza Pahlavi and repeatedly called out: “Long live the king.”

The protest was especially striking given Mashhad’s status as one of Iran’s most religious and regime-aligned cities. Open monarchist slogans and direct challenges to the Islamic Republic in such a setting underscore a growing public backlash and a deepening crisis of legitimacy for the ruling clerical establishment.

NEWSRAEL: WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Public chants of “Long live the king” in a holy city like Mashhad cross a major red line for the Iranian regime. This is not merely outrage over the killing of a legal advocate, but a direct challenge to the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic. Such scenes point to widening cracks within Iranian society and raise the likelihood of harsher repression — or broader unrest with regional implications.