A video footage released on January 9 shows a mosque on fire in Tehran amid protests spreading across Iran. While the exact recording date of the video remains unclear, reportedly, the state media confirmed the mosque was burned. Protests that began in late December over soaring inflation have since escalated into calls to end clerical rule.

As per the social media comments and analysis, it is reflected that the burning of the mosque was related to the symbolic way of destroying the symbols of power instead of any anti-religion or anti-Islamic motives.

One user, while sharing the clip of the mosque, wrote that he was relieved knowing the time period when the mosque was built. As it represented the power of the current regime. “When I saw the recording of the burning Al Rasoul Mosque in Tehran, my first reaction was to check the age of the building, as I always worry about the preservation of antiquities and old architectural monuments. Relieved, I found out that the building was constructed in the early eighties by the Mullah regime”, he wrote.

Als ich die Aufnahme der brennen Al Rasoul Moschee in Teheran sah, war meine erste Reaktion die Überprüfung des Alters des Bauwerks, da ich mir immer Sorgen über den Erhalt von Antiquitäten und alten Baudenkmälern mache.

Erleichtert habe ich festgestellt, dass das Gebäude in den… pic.twitter.com/1zlzDpW1id

— Emrah Erken 🔥🎺 (@AtticusJazz) January 10, 2026

Instead of any anguish against the burning of mosque, people in Iran are seeing it a display of anger against the power symbols. As one user wrote, “The local population will be able to distinguish between cultural monuments and ostentatious displays of power!”.