Latest update – 9:45 pm CET
Iran’s nationwide uprising is witnessing its 164th day on Sunday as more people are protesting poor living conditions and low paychecks. The country’s economy is in shambles as the national currency, the rial is nosediving in unprecedented fashion, trading at 583,500 rials per one U.S. dollar on Sunday morning. Just one week ago on February 19, the U.S. dollar was selling at 489,000 rials.
People throughout the country are specifically holding the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive 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 the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 664 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
On Sunday night, locals in Tehran’s Narmak, Niavaran, and Tehranpars districts began chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
“Death to Khamenei! Damned be Khomeini!”
“Death to the child-killing regime!”
“Death to the dictator!” referring to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”
“This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!”
February 26 – Tehran, #Iran
Locals in the capital's Tehranpars district were chanting:
"Poverty-Corruption-High prices! We're going to overthrow the regime!"
"This is the year [Khamenei] is overthrown!"#No2ShahNo2Mullahs#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبرpic.twitter.com/LSb5K5XGYP— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 26, 2023
Retirees of the regime’s Social Security Organization are rallying in different cities protesting their low pensions and deteriorating living conditions due to the country’s plummeting economy. These protest gatherings are reported in the cities of Ahvaz, Shush, Isfahan, and Shushtar.
Retirees of the Isfahan steel company are also on strike voicing similar grievances due to the regime’s destructive policies. Reports from the steel mill indicates authorities dispatched anti-riot units to the site and arrested dozens of the protesting workers. They have been transferred to an unknown location and there is no information about their current conditions. Reports indicate hundreds of anti-riot forces remain present at the steel mill site and they’re marching their motorcycles to install a climate of utter fear among the protesting workers.
A similar protest rally was held by steel workers in the city of Yazd on Sunday.
February 26 – Isfahan, central #Iran
Retirees of the local steel company protesting delayed pensions and how they are not able to make ends meet.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/j2bwaapgAo— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 26, 2023
In other reports from the city of Isfahan, LPG sellers’ representatives were seen protesting the severe shortage of liquid gas. This has made them completely unable to provide and sell liquid gas to their customers. It is worth noting that Iran has the world’s second largest natural gas reserves.
In the city of Chabahar in Sistan & Baluchestan Province of southeast Iran, students of the Chabahar Maritime University placed their trays on the ground to protest the low quality food served in the campus cafeteria.
February 26 – Isfahan, central #Iran
LPG sellers' representatives protested the severe shortage of liquid gas that has made them unable to sell to their customers.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/1LcYwEUHS9— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 26, 2023
In Isfahan, workers of the city’s famous steel mill were on strike on Saturday demanding answers to their dilemmas, especially considering their low paychecks while the country’s economy is in shambles.
Students of Khajeh Nasir Toosi University in Tehran, the capital of Iran, held a gathering on Saturday and placed their trays on the ground to protest the campus’ low-quality food.
In various cities across the country, employees of the Deeds and Properties Registration Organization of Iran held gatherings on Saturday protesting and seeking answers to their demands.
The city of Javanrud that has witnessed many waves of protests during the past several months, high school students began chanting anti-regime slogans on Saturday, including:
“Death to Khamenei!” and “Death to the IRGC!”
February 25 – Isfahan, central #Iran
Workers of the city's steel mill were on strike today.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/113jvpBBhR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 25, 2023
A number of workers at the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company located in southwest Iran are on strike today protesting company policies that are leaving them deprived of their rights.
The workers are demanding their most basic rights, including payment of overdue salaries, competent management, the return of their fired coworkers to the factory, and other matters.
The workers of Haft Tappeh have been holding protests for their rights for several years. Regime authorities have been constantly promised to solve their problems, only to refrain from holding those promises.
February 25 – Haft Tappeh, southwest #Iran
A number of workers at the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company are on strike, protesting company policies that are leaving them deprived of their rights.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/oIfpdu2uHb— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 25, 2023
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi held a meeting with two prominent members of the UK House of Commons, including Rt. Hon. David Jones and Hon. Bob Blackman in Ashraf 3, voicing her gratitude to the representatives of the people of Britain for their unwavering support for democracy and human rights in Iran.
The NCRI President-elect pointed out that despite the regime’s repressive measures and various schemes, it has been unable to dismantle the material foundations of the uprising, nor has it succeeded in eradicating the Resistance Units and the courageous youth who serve as its driving force.
Press Release- The British Committee for #Iran Freedom-
British MPs David Jones and Bob Blackman visit Ashraf 3 and meet Mrs. Maryam Rajavi#IranRevolution https://t.co/1HxmzgBmnG— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 25, 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.
