Iranian Women Burn Khamenei's Picture to Light Cigarettes: A Bold Act of Defiance

• Iranian women are burning Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's photographs to light cigarettes, a powerful new form of protest spreading online.
• This act combines political defiance against the state with a challenge to strict social and religious norms discouraging women from smoking publicly.
• The gesture is simple, brief, and easily replicable, making it difficult for security forces to suppress and ensuring global attention on Iran's unrest.
• This trend follows years of escalating symbolic protests in Iran, particularly since Mahsa Amini's death in 2022, which ignited widespread challenges to the Islamic Republic.
• The resurgence of these protests coincides with severe economic hardship, including high inflation and soaring food prices, further eroding public confidence in the establishment.

Why It Matters: Iranian women's symbolic act of burning Khamenei's image is a potent challenge to state authority and gender norms.