TEHRAN – Iranian visual artists have created artworks regarding the recent unrest in the country, which started with protests over currency market volatility among Iran’s bazaaris, but the peaceful demonstrations were exploited by the U.S. and Israel and, supported by the foreign regimes, devolved into systemic urban terrorism in an effort to overthrow the Islamic Republic. 

Speaking about the artistic reactions to the events, Seyyed Shahabeddin Shakiba, director of the Visual Arts Center of the Art Bureau, said: “Concerned artists did not remain silent,” Honaronline quoted him as saying.

On the approaches of the artists’ creation, Shakiba said: “The artists had two approaches in their works. First, the protesters were not the same as the rioters, and the demands of the protesters were the right demands. The other approach was that these events were linked to the 12-day Iran-Israel war that happened last year”.

In the early hours of June 13, 2025, the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked act of military aggression against the sovereign territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, martyring revered commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and prominent nuclear scientists, alongside civilians.

The strikes continued for 12 days, targeting civilian nuclear facilities and residential areas, violating all international norms and threatening to ignite a regional conflagration.

Responding to Israel’s aggression, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched Operation True Promise III and unleashed coordinated missile and drone strikes deep inside the occupied territories, targeting military and intelligence command centers. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire.

One of the issues that artists have considered in their work is Trump's policies and his remarks about Iran and the Iranian people, which have also fueled the formation of the unrest.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened military intervention against Iran on his Truth Social platform, using the phrase “locked and loaded”. This declaration of intent to interfere in a sovereign nation's internal affairs was blatant, yet it represented a familiar pattern in the history of American intervention in Iran.

Trump's policies have been one of the subjects of visual artists for many years, as seen in the works participating in the Trumpism International Cartoon and Caricature Contest in the past years. The issue of the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military operation has also been addressed by cartoonists and graphic designers.

Photo: Artworks by Hossein Youzbashi (L) and Mahdieh Ghasemi

SS/SAB