At Least 10 Protest Gatherings Held Across Iran
18-August-2025
Category: Labor and guilds، protesters
17 August 2025
News category: Protests – Pensioners, Workers, and Other Groups –
Breathing in Confinement – At least 10 protest gatherings and demonstrations were held in different cities across the country. These protests were organised by pensioners, workers, and other groups in response to livelihood hardships, discrimination, delays in wage payments, and government economic and social policies.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, in Tehran, Karaj, Ahvaz, Rasht, and Shush (including pensioners from Shush, Karkheh, and Haft-Tappeh), demonstrators gathered in front of Social Security offices. Protesters chanted slogans against poverty, inflation, and government policies, demanding higher pensions, better welfare services, and free healthcare. Pensioners shouted slogans such as: “Only by taking to the streets will we win our rights,” “Enough of war-mongering, our tables are empty,” “Social Security must be freed from government control,” “We will not live under oppression,” “We give our lives for freedom,” and “Livelihood and dignity are our fundamental rights.”
In Isfahan, retired steel and mine workers demonstrated and marched in protest against the government’s failure to implement pension equalisation, livelihood problems, and delays in receiving their entitlements. They blamed the government for the economic crisis, chanting: “Inflation has broken people’s backs,” “The bankrupt government is the enemy of pensioners,” and “Empty promises, our tables are empty.”
Workers of the Third-Party Division of the Gachsaran Oil and Gas Company protested against discriminatory pay, broken promises, and demanded the elimination of contracting companies, equal pay with permanent staff, and conversion of their employment status. They chanted: “We will not rest until we secure our rights, justice, justice.”
Employees of the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company in Tehran, staged a protest over three months of unpaid wages, unpaid legal benefits since the start of the year (Persian Calendar), and non-payment of insurance contributions.
Workers of the Third-Party Division of Razi Petrochemical in Mahshahr gathered in front of the company’s central office to protest the arrest of two colleagues for participating in a strike, as well as the dismissal of several others. They demanded their immediate release, unconditional reinstatement of dismissed workers, and full payment of wages and entitlements.
In Aligoudarz, residents protested in front of the regional water authority against the transfer of water to other cities.