Latest update – 6:45 pm CET
Iran’s regime is experiencing a new level of tension as people in various parts of the country are adamant on continuing the nationwide protests against the entirety of the mullahs’ dictatorship. Despite the regime’s heavy crackdown measures, people in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan & Baluchestan Province stood their ground and continued with their Friday prayers and follow-up weekly protests.
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 647 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
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
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.
In 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!”
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.
February 25 – #Iran
Employees of the Deeds and Properties Registration Organization of Iran held gatherings in different cities across the country protesting and seeking answers to their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/MRZBfmT6a7— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 25, 2023
On Friday night, locals in Tehran’s Narmak district and the city of Mashhad began chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
“Death to the dictator!” referring to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“Death to Khamenei!”
“Death to the child-killing regime!”
“This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!”
February 24 – Tehran, #Iran
Locals in the capital's Narmak district were chanting:
"Death to the dictator!"
"Death to Khamenei!"
"Death to the child-killing regime!"#No2ShahNo2Mullahs #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبرpic.twitter.com/qdZS6IxxpP— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 24, 2023
Protesters in Zahedan took to the streets following Friday’s weekly prayers and were seen chanting anti-regime slogans. Authorities were imposing heavy crackdown measures and disrupting internet connections. Protesters in the streets responded by chanting different slogans, including:
“Death to Khamenei!”
“Death to the dictator!”
“Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”
“No to monarchy! No to [mullahs’ regime]! Democracy!”
“Basij and IRGC, you are our ISIS!”
“I will kill those who killed my brother!”
“We swear on the blood of the fallen that we will stand to the very end!”
Regime authorities dispatching numerous security units to the streets failed to prevent thousands of protesters from taking to the streets in anti-regime rallies.
Members of the Baloch community in the city of Galikesh in northeast Iran were also continuing to protest on Friday against the regime’s oppression and apprehension of their local religious leaders, while also voicing their grievances over the country’s plummeting economy.
Regime security forces were deployed in large numbers on Friday in Iranshahr, another city in Sistan & Baluchestan Province, and prevented people from gathering at the Nour Mosque for their weekly prayers.
The internet monitoring organization, NetBlocks, said there was a “significant disruption to internet connectivity” in Zahedan amid today’s tensions.
Regime authorities were attempting to disrupt the Friday prayers in Zahedan and the follow-up weekly protests. Security forces were seen attacking and apprehending locals near the city’s Grand Makki Mosque, deploying security units with heavy equipment on hilltops overlooking the city, disrupting internet connections, and attempting to enter the mosque to take control over the facility and its surrounding areas. Reports indicate the mosque security personnel have been able to prevent the IRGC units’ measures near the mosque.
February 24 – Zahedan, southeast #Iran
Regime security forces are seen attacking and detaining a local near the city's Grand Makki Mosque.#No2ShahNo2Mullahs #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/tuFSRiAVn7— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 24, 2023
In Khash, another city of Sistan & Baluchestan Province, regime authorities were ordering security forces to patrol the streets to install a general climate of fear and prevent people from attending the weekly Friday prayers and anti-regime protests in this restive city. Local activists said all plans went ahead as scheduled and the people of this city were not succumbing to the regime’s crackdown measures.
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi condemned the regime’s crackdown against Zahedan and other cities of Sistan & Baluchestan, while calling on local compatriots to rise in solidarity with Zahedan’s brave people.
“Criminal IRGC surrounds Makki Mosque on Khamenei’s orders, fearing protests by Zahedan’s brave people. They arrested many and mosque security. I urge Zahedan and nearby cities’ youths to rise in solidarity with Makki Mosque worshipers,” the NCRI President-elect explained.
Criminal IRGC surrounds Makki Mosque on Khamenei's orders, fearing protests by Zahedan's brave people. They arrested many and mosque security. I urge #Zahedan & nearby cities’ youths to rise in solidarity with Makki Mosque worshipers. #BlacklistIRGC pic.twitter.com/HrJZoNEzTQ
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 24, 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.
