Iran's government has announced the formation of a special task force to investigate the roots of anger among young people, as protests driven by economic collapse and rising living costs continue across the country.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday that President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the creation of a "special task force" made up of sociologists to examine the causes of discontent among young people and to propose social solutions to long-standing problems she said had been "previously neglected and later exploited by enemies".
The move comes as young people, particularly those from Iran's shrinking middle class, have made up the bulk of participants in protests that erupted on 28 December after the rial plunged to record lows, triggering sharp price rises and deepening financial hardship.
Addressing young people directly, Mohajerani said: "Hope is the mother of humanity. It is what builds society, and we will work to build this hope."
She added that "the outside world will not build our future, but rather sells illusions", urging engagement "with the people".
At a press conference, Mohajerani acknowledged government shortcomings but said "not everything that happened was of its making".
She said authorities had "heard the voice of the people", announcing the formation of a fact-finding committee and the inclusion of public demands on the government's agenda.
She expressed condolences to families who lost relatives during the unrest, saying protesters were calling for "respect, a decent living, and a dignified life", and warned that Iranian society was in urgent need of solidarity.
Mohajerani said the unrest had reflected an accumulation of anger in a society under sustained economic strain.
While the protests were sparked by economic pressures, she said they were rooted in broader anxiety, uncertainty, and despair.
Iran's economic crisis has been widely linked to decades of US-led sanctions, which economists say have hollowed out livelihoods and disproportionately affected young people.
Sanctions have slashed oil revenues, restricted access to global finance, driven the collapse of the rial, and fuelled inflation, with food prices rising more than 70 percent over the past year.
The purchasing power of fixed-income earners has sharply declined, pushing large segments of the middle class into poverty, while youth unemployment and informal labour have surged.
Sanctions have also disrupted imports of medicine and essential goods, worsening living conditions and heightening public frustration.
While US President Donald Trump has claimed he wants to "help" Iranian protesters, analysts argue that sanctions imposed or tightened under his administration were a central factor in the economic collapse that triggered the demonstrations, leaving a generation of young Iranians facing bleak prospects.
Mohajerani said the government was confronting "an accumulation of social protests", adding that those harmed were "our own children", with the exception of a small number of armed groups, backed by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to divert peaceful protests into violence.