Anti-regime protests in Iran are continuing by people from all walks of life, including a new round of rallies by retirees, coupled with the country’s truckers launching their nationwide strike. Pensioners of the regime’s Social Security Organization were in the streets of different cities on Sunday demanding their rights and protesting their low paychecks as inflation continues to rise with prices of basic goods skyrocketing.
People throughout Iran continue to specifically hold the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and paramilitary Basij units, alongside other security units that are on the ground suppressing the peaceful demonstrators.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 675 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
#IranProtests at a Glance- Sunday, May 21, 2023#IranRevoIution pic.twitter.com/hzZWxvr4lG
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 22, 2023
Incoming reports indicate that brave youths in Kermanshah, western Iran, attacked a base of the IRGC Ground Forces and the IRGC’s 29th Division in this area. This attack, taking place early Monday morning local time, resulted in multiple explosions. Further details will be provided when available.
Courageous locals have taken to the streets of Rasht, a major city in northern Iran, and are chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
“Down with the state of executions!”
“We swear on the blood of our compatriots that we will stand to the very end!”
“Down with the dictator!”
“Our silence is treason and collaboration in crimes!”
“The state of executions is breathing its last breaths!”
“Executions, imprisonment, and torture are no longer effective!”
“Poverty-Corruption-High prices! We’re going to overthrow the regime!”
May 22 – Rasht, northern #Iran
Locals are in the streets chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
"Down with the dictator!"
"Down with the state of executions!"#IranRevoIution #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/vNAURQ9w7O— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 22, 2023
Retirees and pensioners of the regime’s telecom industry in Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan in southwest Iran, are rallying on Monday to protest their low pensions and poor economic conditions. Similar protest gatherings are reported in Arak, Kermanshah, Ilam, Shahrekord, Bojnurd, Isfahan, Zahedan, Hamadan, Mashhad, and Rasht, among others. This continues previous gatherings held during the past few weeks and months in Tehran and other cities across the country.
In the past few years, retirees across Iran have been protesting to their deteriorating living conditions, especially as the government refuses to adjust their pensions based on the inflation rate and fluctuations in the price of the rial, Iran’s national currency.
May 22 – Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Retirees and pensioners of the regime's telecom industry from across Khuzestan Province are protesting low pensions and poor economic conditions.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/583QOAUe86pic.twitter.com/J0vmFw2zOp— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 22, 2023
Heavy vehicle drivers in Arak of Markaci (Central) Province in central Iran launched their strike on Monday protesting their current conditions and the mullahs’ dictatorial rule.
In Tehran, defrauded investors of the Ramak Khodro auto company held a rally on Monday outside the regime’s Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade, protesting and demanding their stolen investments be returned.
State police in the village of Gojag in Hormozgan Province, southern Iran, opened fire on locals protesting a ruling by regime officials seeking to demolish two residential homes in this area. A number of the locals have been injured, according to activists.
In other reports, petrochemical workers of the Jahan Pars Company in southwest Iran returned to work on Monday after company officials promised to increase their salaries by 50%. Seeing no such raises, however, they stopped working and returned to continue their strike.
May 22 – Tehran, #Iran
Defrauded investors of the Ramak Khodro auto company rallying outside the regime's Ministry of of Industry, Mine and Trade, protesting and demanding their stolen investments returned.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/8Wbh0hhKyz— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 22, 2023
Railroad technicians in the city of Qom, central Iran, are on strike on Monday, rallying outside the local governor’s office demanding their delayed paychecks.
Locals in the Darreh Hendu village of Chaharmarhal & Bakhtiari Province in southwest Iran are holding a gathering today protesting the regime’s refusal to provide an asphalt road for their residential areas leading to a nearby town.
Locals in the village of Mehrabad in Tehran Province are holding a gathering on Monday and protesting the regime’s decision to dispatch anti-riot units and destroy their local flower market the night before without prior notice.
Tehran University students held a gathering on Monday protesting the suspension of one of their classmates. Reports indicate authorities dispatched forces to disrupt this peaceful gathering.
Truck drivers launched their strike in the main terminal of Bandar Abbas, a major portal city in southern Iran. Truckers across the country intend to launch a nationwide strike starting Monday.
May 22 – Mehrabad, Tehran Province, #Iran
Locals are protesting the regime's decision to dispatch anti-riot units and destroy their local flower market the night before without prior notice.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/OXU1cvmR0Mpic.twitter.com/JIVCuHI9Kmpic.twitter.com/3zSg3GTXbN— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 22, 2023
Locals in the capital’s Shahrak-e Bagheri, Tehranpars, Amir Abad, Sa’adat Abad, and Sattarkhan districts, along with other areas, are chanting anti-regime slogans on Sunday night, including:
“Down with the state of executions!”
“Down with Khamenei! Damned be Khomeini!”
“Down with the dictator!”
“We swear on the blood of our compatriots that we stand to the end!”
“Down with Khamenei, the murderer!”
“This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!”’
May 21 – Tehran, #Iran
Locals in the capital's Amir Abad district are chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
"We swear on the blood of our compatriots that we stand to the end!"#IranRevolution #StopExecutionsInIran pic.twitter.com/m2gGSEl4lR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 21, 2023
Armed men in Saravan, southeast Iran, opened fire and killed at least six members of the regime’s military border units early Sunday morning, according to reports wired by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. At least one other member of the regime’s military border units was wounded in this attack.
It is worth noting that during the past week or so a significant number of the regime’s security forces in various parts of the country have been killed by armed men in similar attacks.
Reports from Qezel Hesar Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, indicate that inmates of various sections in this facility are on hunger strike protesting the regime’s recent surge in executions across the country.
Facing a restive society & growing international isolation, #Iran's regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the recent surge in executions in a bid to quell the explosive nation despite a growing global outcry.#StopExecutionsInIran#قیام_جواب_اعدامhttps://t.co/iuZ9Wqe9jS
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 21, 2023
Retirees and pensioners of the regime’s Social Security Organization in Shush of Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, Kermanshah in western Iran, and Rasht in northern Iran were holding a gathering on Sunday demanding their rights while protesting their low pensions. Retirees and pensioners were also protesting in the cities of Ahvaz, Isfahan, Arak, and Shushtar, demanding their rights. This continues a series of similar rallies held by these retirees in the past few weeks and months.
Special educators and employees of the Municipality University in Ahvaz are also rallying outside the governor’s office on Sunday demanding their rights be respected and paychecks increased.
Pensioners and retirees are among the worst-hit segments of Iran’s society. They depend on government stipends to make ends meet, but the regime has refused to increase their pensions in correspondence with growing inflation and the depreciation of the national currency.
The government has long provided many hollow promises of increasing pensions. It was also supposed to settle unpaid pensions remaining from previous years. So far, it has yet to deliver on both demands.
Interestingly, the regime’s own media reported that The Social Security Investment Company (SHASTA), the financial institution that is supposed to fund retirees, has seen a significant increase in its profits in the past years. However, these profits have yet to materialize in the lives of pensioners and retirees.
May 21 – Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Retirees and pensioners of the regime's Social Security Organization are holding a gathering demanding their rights while protesting their low pensions.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/6vQjUT4H7X— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 21, 2023
The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.
She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.
May 20 – Vienna, Austria
Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the #Iran opposition PMOI/MEK rallied in solidarity with #IranRevolution and condemning the regime's execution of three protesters in Isfahan.#StopExecutionsInIranpic.twitter.com/GCEDEtMH3apic.twitter.com/9x2HTYPIUt— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 20, 2023
