Iran Uprising -No. 164
On Thursday, May 24th, the nationwide strike of truck and heavy vehicle’s drivers continued in different cities of the country for the third day. The strike has already spread to 168 cities in 29 provinces of the country, and the queues of trucks that have rejected loading goods are getting longer continuously. This is despite the fact that intelligence agents have been deterring them from engaging in strikes since the very first day in various ways, including sending threatening SMS messages on the drivers’ mobile phones, and summoning some of them to the branches of Intelligence Ministry in their cities.
Tehran and provinces of East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Alborz, Ilam, Bushehr, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Semnan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qazvin, Qom, Kurdistan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Golestan, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran, Markazi, Hormozgan, Hamedan and Yazd have been the host to the strike of the drivers who have written slogans on their vehicles such as: “The right is something that should be obtained, and not to be bestowed”; “Nationwide unity and protest of the drivers of the transportation sector for implementing justice”.
The strike has been supported by people in various cities. On Thursday, taxi drivers in some areas went on strike in support of the truck drivers.
The Revolutionary Guard Corps and the police tried to break this strike through various tactics, including pressuring fuel tanks’ drivers to resume working and launching escorted tankers affiliated with IRGC on the roads. However, the noble strikers overwhelmed this conspiracy through their unity and integrity, and did not allow the drivers associated with the regime to break their strike by controlling the main routes.
Following this unprecedented and nationwide strike, many gas stations in Tehran and some other parts of the country faced shortage of gasoline. Some of them are closed and some just have unleaded gasoline. There are long queues of cars in the gas stations that still has some fuel. Many customs terminals are half-closed, and the import and export process is facing a problem.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the truck drivers who have gone on strike to achieve their minimum rights, and called on all the people to support them.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 24, 2018
