Much prevailing discourse and debate about Iran remains Tehran-centric, overlooking the voices and grievances of marginalized ethnic communities in the periphery. This has effectively created a bifurcation of political activism in recent years into two distinct geographies: the Persian-majority center and the ethnic periphery. The ethnic factor is not a fringe issue but a defining element of Iran’s contemporary political landscape. Policy implications and future outlookThe shift in Iranian protest movements from the Persian center to the ethnic periphery carries a number of major implications. Third, the ethnic periphery has moved from being a passive recipient of state policy to an assertive and influential actor in shaping Iran’s political future.