Usually, the issue of road accidents in Iran and the so-called “carriages of death” becomes newsworthy and controversial after the Nowruz holidays. However, this year, during the middle of the Nowruz holidays, government-affiliated websites are reporting deadly road tragedies and the “carriages of death.”
“Bloody Nowruz Roads” is the headline of a report from a government-affiliated website that mentions the deaths of hundreds of compatriots in road accidents during the early days of Persian month of Farvardin (starting on March 21, 2025).
On March 27, 2025, the state-run Asr-e Iran newspaper quoted Alireza Raisi, spokesperson for the so-called “No to Accidents” campaign, as saying, “From March 15, 2025, to March 26, 2025, unfortunately, 417 compatriots lost their lives due to road accidents and severe injuries, and more than 24,000 people were injured in traffic accidents during this year’s Nowruz holidays. Among them, 9,778 people suffered severe or very severe injuries.”
Also on March 27, Entekhab website quoted the deputy minister of health as saying, “Annually, road accidents result in 60,000 disabilities and 20,000 deaths; we also have between 300,000 to 400,000 severe traffic injuries.”
Experts and government-affiliated media acknowledge that the two main causes of deadly road accidents are unsafe vehicles and substandard roads. These unsafe, deadly vehicles are marketed at astronomical prices under the control and guidance of the IRGC mafia, claiming countless lives on the country’s “unsafe” roads. The major road construction and infrastructure projects are also carried out by the IRGC through the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters. A simple calculation reveals that the “Bloody Nowruz Roads” is a direct result of the IRGC and the deadly mafia of the “carriages of death.”
Comparing Iran’s accident statistics with countries of similar population reveals the extent of systemic corruption and government-driven crimes. For instance, the United Kingdom, with a population nearly equal to Iran, records about 1,700 road deaths per year—12 times fewer than Iran. The clerical regime, with over 20,000 fatalities and tens of thousands of severely injured and disabled people, continues to inflict suffering, kill, and plunder the country.
Last year, just before Nowruz, we warned that one of the major causes of deadly road accidents is the widespread corruption and massive looting within the automotive industry and its lucrative deals. This mafia extends across high-ranking entities of the regime, especially the IRGC and the oppressive government. Documents published by the “Uprising to Overthrow” dissident group showed how figures from Khamenei himself to the leaders of the armed forces, the IRGC, the government, and the regime’s parliament are all involved in the car mafia. This governmental corruption has repeatedly been exposed during the regime’s internal power struggles.
It is not without reason that a former head of the regime’s Road Police previously stated: “Behind the automaker is a mafia that supports it and forces the country into silence. This mafia is so powerful that it only occasionally allows criticism of automakers to remain at the level of words and speeches, ensuring that no practical action is ever taken against automakers in the country.” (Bahar News, May 15, 2022).
Thus, this year’s Bloody Nowruz and the deadly road accidents, which the regime has held a global record for years, are the result of the destructive corruption of the mullahs’ regime, whose mill turns on death and bloodshed. This is the regime of executions and massacres, which considered the Iran-Iraq war as its lifeline and insisted on its continuation for years. It is the same regime that exploits people’s suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, their displacement in floods and earthquakes, or warmongering in the region to block uprisings and “preserve the system.”