Reports tallied by People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) indicate there have been more protests by different social classes across Iran. The driving force of all these protests are the economic grievances.
According to the MEK, on Monday, railway workers in Lorestan province, western Iran, refused to go to work, and forced company officials to pay a portion of their wages. These workers refused to go work following a previous call to start a strike on Monday.
Due to the regime’s wrong economic policies, the prices of essential products continue to rise. Reports from Iran indicate the price of bread in the city of Tabriz, northwest Iran, has increased by 30 to 50 percent. The sudden rise in bread price resulted in protests. In addition, many bakeries in Tabriz closed, since they lack flour and the regime’s officials have failed to provide this essential necessity.
Footage obtained by the MEK from Urmia, northwest Iran, shows many people standing in line since 6 am, yet they could not buy bread.
On Monday, kindergarten teachers in the city of Izeh in Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, held a protest rally in front of the General Directorate of Education of Khuzestan. They demanded their job status to change from contract teacher to permanent teachers.
Again, on Monday, for the second consecutive day, a group of employees of Iran’s medical and health centers gathered in front of the regime parliament. They held this rally to protest the lack of change in the status and low level of their salaries.
On Sunday, many Iranian farmers held protests in front of the offices of the trade union systems. The regime’s so-called Plan and Budget Organization recently informed the Ministry of Agriculture about the decision of the Economic Council on the price of agricultural products for the current year. According to this decree, the guaranteed purchase price of 1 kg of wheat is 40,000 rials, 1 kg of rapeseed is 78,000 rials and 1 kg of oats is around 23,000 rials. The news, however, provoked protests by many agricultural activists. Farmers said that due to the price increase of agricultural inputs, the purchase price of their products by the government has become very low and this will cause many farmers to lose money.
In a similar development, on Sunday, workers of the sport complex in the city of Zanjan, northwest Iran, held a protest. The protesting workers demanded their paychecks, delayed for at least six months.
Regime’s fear of ongoing protests
The regime’s state-run media and officials continue warning one another of another looming uprising. They compare the situation with the post-November 2019 major Iran protests.
The nationwide Iran protests started after the sudden gas price hike and soon turned political, with people challenging the regime’s existence.
Parallel to the economic, social, and political crises, the regime’s fear of another uprising continues to rise.
The state-run Mostaghel daily in this regard on Tuesday wrote: “The institutionalized insecurity in society actually and potentially, social-political, and economically disrupts the society.”
The state-run Ebtekar daily, in its editorial on August 1, wrote: “The [people’s] livelihood has long reached the warning point. More people join protesters daily. These protests have turned to struggle for survival. When the movement of starving people begins, it could not be considered a civil disobedience. For long, our society has lived on the edge of a ‘protest paradigm.’ This society has reached the boiling point many times and quelled for some reasons. The November [uprising] was just the rebellion of half of the starving people.”
This state-run outlet warned: “If there is no positive and profound change in the current situation, sooner or later, a fire will be ignited, and it will burn all [the regime’s] assets.”
