[IranAlert] Iranians Say "No to the Islamic Republic" on Its Birthday

This is the NUFDI IranAlert—concise, timely analysis offering unique insights into breaking news and major developments inside Iran. Each short brief provides a fresh angle, highlighting trends, reactions, and overlooked internal dynamics shaping Iran and the Islamic Republic.

A protest banner seen in Tehran on April 1 reads: “No to the Islamic Republic.”

On the same day, the regime was celebrating the 1979 referendum that established the Islamic Republic in Iran. For years, the regime has boasted about the doctored results of the referendum, which—with Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Un-esque statistics—they claim 98.2% of Iranians voted in favor of.

The “No to the Islamic Republic” campaign saw mass grassroots waves across the country in both 2021 and 2023 . The demonstrations marked a turning point in which organized campaigns called for an end to the entirety of the regime.

Decades of regime corruption and mismanagement, paired with unbridled oppression, have led to increasingly frequent cycles of protests and bloody state crackdowns. This civil unrest has led to disillusionment of the possibility of reform within the regime, a shift in public perception that emerged as early as the 2017-18 protests, when people for the first time chanted , “Reformists, conservatives, the game is over”

Footage of the banner was first shared by citizen journalist Vahid Online on X at 10:06 EST. NUFDI verified and geolocated the footage as being recorded on Modares Highway, at 35.784410405242305, 51.423146093033864, north Tehran.