There have been fewer daily street protests nationwide since November as the authorities seek to quell the protests with methods including capital punishment, which has already seen four protest-related executions.

But the anger unleashed by the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for violating the Islamic republic's strict dress rules, has not subsided and at a time of economic crisis still poses a potential threat to the Iranian regime.

Meanwhile protests have taken on different forms, notably including strikes. Mass street actions continue in some regions and there have been tentative signs of division within the regime.

"With the number of protests diminishing since mid-November 2022, it appears that a stalemate has set in, with neither the regime nor the protesters' side being able to overwhelm the other," said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Iran expert with the American University of Beirut's Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.

"Despite the relative decline in the number of protests ever since, it is worth recalling that revolutionary processes usually entail phases of both relative calm and uproar.

"Now, with a dramatic loss of the value of the Iranian currency since the turn of year, economy-driven protests could be expected, which as past shows could quickly turn political," he told AFP.

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