Latest update – 9:30 pm CET
People from various sectors of Iran’s society took to the streets on Sunday protesting their economic woes rendered from the regime’s destructive polices. More people are demanding their rights and these protests are increasingly evolving into political rallies targeting the regime’s top echelons.
People throughout the country are specifically holding 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 664 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Nightly anti-regime protests erupted yet again on Monday night as protesters in Tehran and many other cities across the country took to the streets to march and chant slogans against the mullahs’ dictatorship. These protests were reported in the country’s capital and the cities of Mashhad, Karaj, Sanandaj, Babol, Saveh, Malayer, Amol, Kamyaran, Qazvin, Yazd, Mahabad, and others.
March 13 – Tehran, #Iran
Ekbatan district
Protesters are chanting: "Poverty-Corruption-High prices! We're going to overthrow the regime!"#IranRevolution#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبرpic.twitter.com/5M83xSlzD4— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 13, 2023
On Monday, retirees and pensioners of the regime’s telecommunications industry from Tehran and numerous other provinces rallied in their provincial capital cities protesting their low pensions and poor economic conditions. These rallies were held in Tehran, Razavi Khorasan, Kermanshah, and Alborz provinces, along with the cities of Ardabil, Dezful, Yasuj, and Yazd. A similar rally was held in the city of Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province in western Iran, and Urmia in northwest Iran. This continues previous rallies held on the last three Mondays in the cities of 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.
March 13 – #Iran
Retirees and pensioners of the regime's communications industry began a new wave of rallies protesting low pensions and poor economic conditions.
Provinces of:
Tehran – Razavi Khorasan – Kermanshah – Alborz#IranProtests2023#اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/2G0wq0VEsS— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 13, 2023
In other reports from Tehran, locals in a metro station began chanting “Death to Khamenei!” on Monday, protesting the train system’s malfunctions.
Regime operatives in a village near the city of Baneh in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, launched a chemical gas attack on Monday targeting the all-girls Vahdat School, leaving a number of students ill.
In reports from Zahedan, the capital of Sistan & Baluchestan Province in southeast Iran, students of Sarjangal High School boycotted their classes today protesting the numerous chemical gas attacks by regime operatives targeting schools.
March 13 – Zahedan, southeast #Iran
Students of Sarjangal High School boycotted their classes protesting the numerous chemical gas attacks against schools by regime operatives.#No2ShahNo2Mullahs#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/uTtteNfIv7— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 13, 2023
Workers of a local cement factory in Ilam, western Iran, held a gathering on Monday protesting their low paychecks, overtime work, low pensions, and company officials’ refusal to hire them based on permanent contracts.
Seasonal workers of a local sugar factory in the city of Muqan in northwest Iran held another gathering on Tuesday to seek answers about their employment status. Company officials refuse to address their demands despite the gathering continuing for days now.
IRGC units raided the Mir Abad and Mordad Abad districts in the outskirts of Chabahar, a major portal city in Sistan & Baluchestan Province in southeast Iran, demolishing the homes of Baloch residents early Monday morning local time.
March 13 – Near Chabahar, southeast #Iran
IRGC units raided the Mir Abad and Mordad Abad districts in the outskirts of Chabahar and demolished the homes of Baloch locals early Monday morning local time.#BlacklistIRGC #IRGCterrorists pic.twitter.com/NqSqDvFVOt— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 13, 2023
Retirees and pensioners in the cities of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Shush, and Kerman, were rallying on Sunday, protesting low pensions, poor insurance plans, and seeking adjustments based on skyrocketing prices and increasing inflation.
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.
March 12 – Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization protesting and calling for higher wages and equality among all retirees.#IranProtests2023pic.twitter.com/YhhPoiYkER— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 12, 2023
Similar protest rallies were held on Sunday by retired steel workers in Isfahan, central Iran, and nurses in Qazvin, northwest Iran.
Workers of government-associated sites were holding a gathering in Tehran on Sunday morning protesting the regime’s refusal to increase their paychecks, in violation of their own laws, and voicing their grievances over their economic woes.
In other reports from the country’s capital, investors in the Azvico auto company (shareholders include the IRGC) were rallying yesterday and seeking answers to their long-raised demands after being left in limbo for so long.
March 12 – Tehran, #Iran
Investors in the Azvico auto company (shareholders include the IRGC) are rallying and seeking answers to their long-raised demands after being left in limbo for so long.#IranProtests2023#اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/LVi8XWjWmh— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 12, 2023
Regime operatives in a village near the city of Sarvabad in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, launched chemical gas attacks targeting at least three different schools in one village on Sunday. Reports indicate a number of children were left ill as a result.
Workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, continued their strike for a second day on Sunday protesting company officials’ refusal to address their demands.
March 12 – Haft Tappeh, southwest #Iran
A group of workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company went on strike for a second day, protesting company officials' refusal to address their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/uTaC0WQfDQ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 12, 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.
