From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 2, 2026
‘Fight against darkness’: Foreign Ministry X account appears to back Iran protests
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA social media account belonging to the Foreign Ministry appears to express support for the mass cost-of-living protests in Iran, as a minister voices hope that the demonstrations will signal the fall of the country’s theocratic regime.
A post on the Foreign Ministry’s Farsi-language account displays a cartoon featuring a lion and sun — an image that was on Iran’s flag until the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with the lion’s paw resting on an hourglass. At the bottom of the hourglass is the emblem on Iran’s current flag.
“The rise of Iranian lions and lionesses to fight against darkness,” the post says in Farsi. “Light triumphs over darkness.”
خیزش شیرمردان و شیرزنان ایرانی برای نبرد با تاریکی.
نور بر تاریکی پیروز است. pic.twitter.com/oyz4qpHdpf— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) January 1, 2026
The growing demonstrations, focused on the cost of living and Iran’s ailing currency, are spreading across the country, and saw six people killed on Thursday.
Another post on the account from earlier in the day includes a cartoon of Iran’s leaders panicking in the face of protesters. The caption, in Farsi, reads, “The destruction calendar they had set for Israel has now been set for themselves.”
Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel posts a video supporting the protests, which she predicts will bring about the fall of the regime.
“Your protests, by women and men, young people and students, mothers and fathers, are justified,” she says in English. “The regime is weakening every day, and these are its final moments.”
On Monday, Gamliel had posted a selfie wearing a hat reading, in all-caps, “Make Iran great again.” She tagged the son of Iran’s deposed shah, a leading critic of the regime.
Soon ????????@PahlaviReza pic.twitter.com/Q6mIvnmtY9
— גילה גמליאל – Gila Gamliel (@GilaGamliel) December 29, 2025
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli also posts in support of the protests. His post includes an apparently AI-generated image of a demonstration, with someone waving the lion-and-sun flag. The image says, “I stand with the people of Iran.”
US Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, likewise predicts that Iran’s leader will fall, and attributes that outcome to Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, which also saw the US strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Losing wars has consequences,” he writes. “Israel’s 12-day campaign against the Iranian regime & President Trump’s historic decision to destroy its nuclear program have exposed the regime’s weakness to the Iranian people & the world. The Iranian people are rising up & the Ayatollah’s days are numbered.”
The Times of Israel Community.