Iran has been shaken by a series of protests over the past 50 years. Here's a look at them

Over the past 50 years, Iran has been shaken by a series of protests.

Beginning with the demonstrations that led to the founding of the Islamic Republic to now, here's a brief look at the protests and what fueled them.

In the lead-up to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, students, oil workers and others protested, demanding political freedoms. Those demonstrations pressured the fatally ill ruler of the country, the autocratic Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ultimately fled the country. The revolution took hold in February under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who installed a hard-line Shiite theocracy under his ultimate control. The new government executed thousands. The bloodshed of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and the crackdown halted mass demonstrations for years.

Angered by the killing of activists, intellectuals and others known as the “chain murders,” students at Tehran University began protesting. A security force crackdown at the campus sparked more demonstrations. At least three people were killed while 1,200 were detained in the protests.

In the summer of 2009, Iran's reformist opposition raised accusations that the reelection victory of the hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was rigged. Millions nationwide protested over the next months, becoming known as the “Green Movement.” A brutal security force crackdown saw dozens killed and thousands arrested.

Anger over rising food prices, as well as government plans to cut cash handouts for poorer Iranians, sparked demonstrations that began in Mashhad and spiraled out of control. Over 20 people were killed and hundreds arrested.

Iran's government announced a spike in subsidized gasoline prices, sparking intense protests that saw gas stations, banks and stores burned to the ground. Over 300 people reportedly were killed and authorities shut off the country's access to the internet.

Protests began in September 2022 soon after the death of Amini, 22, following her arrest by the country’s morality police over allegedly not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of the authorities. United Nations investigators ultimately found Iran responsible for the “physical violence” that led to her death. A monthslong security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. However, many women to this day still refuse to wear the hijab.

As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after a 12-day war with Israel, its rial currency collapsed, reaching 1.4 million to $1. Protests began soon after.

FILE - Iranians protest a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini's death after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Sept. 20, 2022, in this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran. (AP Photo/ File)

FILE - An Iranian female opposition supporter reacts as she attends a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 18, 2009, in competition with government-sponsored mass rallies to mark an annual anti-Israel commemoration, the Quds Day that reflects the Persian nation's sympathy with the Palestinians. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this July 12, 1999 file photo, an unidentified student at a rally in Tehran, Iran, holds up the bloody T-shirt of a friend who was injured sometime in the last few days during clashes between police and student demonstrators. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 9, 1978 file photo, Iranian protesters demonstrate against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo, File)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday closed out the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year, capping a yearlong celebration of Christianity that saw some 33 million pilgrims flock to Rome and a historic papal transition from one American pope to another.

With cardinals and diplomats looking on, Leo kneeled down in prayer on the stone floor at the threshold of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. He then stood up and pulled the two doors shut, symbolically completing the rarest of Jubilees: one that was opened by a feeble Pope Francis in December 2024, continued during his funeral and the conclave, and then was closed by Francis' successor a year later.

Only once before, in 1700, has a Holy Year been opened by one pope and closed by another.

Tuesday's ceremony, at the start of Mass celebrating the feast of Epiphany, capped a dizzying year of special audiences, Masses and meetings that dominated Leo’s first months as pontiff and in many ways put his own agenda on hold.

As if to signal his pontificate now can begin in earnest, Leo has summoned the world’s cardinals to the Vatican for two days of meetings starting Wednesday to discuss governing the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. On the agenda is the issue of the liturgy, suggesting Leo is diving head-first into the divisions within the church over the celebration of the old Latin Mass.

For the Vatican, a Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome every 25 years to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and receive indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins if they pass through the Holy Door.

For Rome, it’s a chance to take advantage of public funds, in this case some 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion), to carry out long-delayed projects to lift the city out of years of neglect and bring it up to modern, European standards.

The Vatican on Monday claimed 33,475,369 pilgrims had participated in the Jubilee, but the Vatican’s Holy Year organizer, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, acknowledged the number was only a rough estimate and could include double counting. At a press conference, neither he nor Italian officials provided a breakdown between Holy Year pilgrims and Rome’s overall tourist figures for the same period.

Rome’s relationship with Jubilees dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII inaugurated the first Holy Year in what historians say marked the definitive designation of Rome as the center of Christianity. Even then, the number of pilgrims was so significant that Dante referred to them in his “Inferno.”

Massive public works projects have long accompanied Holy Years, including the creation of the Sistine Chapel (commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475) and the big Vatican garage (for the 2000 Jubilee under St. John Paul II).

Some works have been controversial, such as the construction of Via della Conciliazione, the broad boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square. An entire neighborhood was razed to make it for the 1950 Jubilee.

The main public works project for the 2025 Jubilee was an extension of that boulevard: A pedestrian piazza along the Tiber linking Via della Conciliazione to the nearby Castel St. Angelo, with the major road that had separated them diverted to an underground tunnel.

Leo has already announced that the next Jubilee will be in 2033, to commemorate what Christians believe was the A.D. 33 death and resurrection of Christ.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica to mark the start of the Catholic Jubilee Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. (Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP, file)

Members of the clergy arrive ahead of Pope Leo XIV for the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Members of the clergy arrive ahead of Pope Leo XIV for the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)