Orientul Mijlociu

HRANA – Nationwide protests in Iran continued on their twelfth day, Thursday, January 8, 2026, according to reports collected by HRANA. Demonstrations and protest actions were recorded in at least 46 cities across 21 provinces. At the same time, a wave of strikes and market closures was reported, particularly in Kurdish regions, with dozens of cities in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, and Ilam provinces joining the strikes.

Who calls the shots in Iran on economic policy, security, and domestic calls for reform? A look at the government’s organization chart indicates how complicated the answer is.

Iran’s system of government is not quite a democracy, nor a theocracy. Founding Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini developed its animating doctrine, known as guardianship of the jurist, in the years before the Islamic Republic’s establishment in 1979. Khomeini posited that a just government was possible if religious scholars sat atop it to ensure consistency with Islamic law. This system was put into place with a constitutional referendum after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The organs of a modern republic—a unicameral legislature (the majlis), executive led by the president, and judiciary—were enveloped by a clerical system. (Most of Iran’s clerical hierarchy, however, remains outside this official structure, based in Qom rather than the capital, Tehran.)

Israel faces mounting challenges: a stalled ceasefire in Gaza, rising Hezbollah threats in Lebanon, and a critical security opportunity with Syria.

With ceasefires unraveling on nearly every front, Israel is once again confronting the unstable reality of the Middle East.

Protests in Iran raged Friday night in the Islamic Republic, online videos purported to show, despite a threat from the country’s theocracy to crack down on demonstrators after shutting down the internet and cutting telephone lines off to the world.

At least 65 people have been killed in the protests that began in late December over Iran’s ailing economy and have morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years.

An internal Hamas assessment suggests the EU’s former top diplomat in the Palestinian territories pursued a personal approach to Gaza that crossed Brussels’ red lines

An internal Hamas document seen by Euractiv suggests that the EU’s former envoy to the Palestinian territories, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, pursued positions that diverged from official EU policy and were viewed favourably by Hamas leaders in Gaza.

The U.S. is trying to force Lebanon and Syria to normalize with Israel, but neither country sees an advantage in this.

On January 6, the Israeli journalist Barak Ravid published an article at Axios, reporting that the United States had presented Syria and Israel “with a new proposal for a security pact between them that includes establishing a joint economic zone on both sides of the border …” This followed several hours of talks between the sides in Paris the same day, during which the Americans also proposed the establishment of a joint U.S.-Israeli-Syrian “fusion cell” in Amman “to oversee the security situation in Southern Syria and host further talks on demilitarization and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.”

The statement reaffirmed the army’s commitment to being the sole actor responsible for maintaining security in Lebanon, with an emphasis on the area south of the Litani River

Lebanon’s government and army have not made sufficient efforts to disarm Hezbollah, and this is evidenced by the terror group’s efforts, with Iran’s help, to rearm and reestablish its infrastructure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated on Thursday afternoon.

Manifestațiile de stradă din Iran au ajuns vineri în ziua 13. Mii de oameni au continuat să iasă în stradă, în ciuda amenințărilor. Prințul iranian Reza Pahlavi, fiul exilat al monarhului detronat al Iranului, a făcut apel la protestatari să continue demonstrațiile de stradă încă două nopți și să ocupe centrele orașelor, îndemnând în același timp angajații din sectorul energetic și al transporturilor să înceapă greve la nivel național, informează Iran International.

In May 2025, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced that it would set in motion a process of dissolution. This historic disbandment was given further legitimacy when disarmament commenced in July, followed by a withdrawal of forces in October. The international response to the announcement has been overwhelmingly positive. While Kurdish diasporas were initially sceptical, cautious optimism is now predominant. Türkiye’s direct neighbours in Iran and Iraq also welcome the initiative that could bring more stability to the region, even though Kurdish public opinion in Iraq is more divided due to a complicated web of internal Kurdish politics. Recently, Türkiye also showed some goodwill by giving lawyers access to Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s leader who has been imprisoned since 1999. All the while, the process has been slow, updates have been published sparsely, and the details of the deal remain the subject of speculation.

Iranian researcher Mohammed Saleh Sedghian discussed the January 3, 2025 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in a January 4 appearance on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar). He said that such a scenario was unlikely to be repeated in Iran, due to Iran’s large territory and its geostrategic positions. Sedghian added that Russia has now abandoned its friend for a second time, after it failed to come to the aid of the former Syrian regime and allowed it to collapse and fall into the hands of Al-Sharaa. He further said that there are rumors alleging American-Russian cooperation in Maduro’s arrest.