While Iran’s regime attempts to project an image of stability, the reality on the streets reveals a regime systematically crushing its people’s livelihoods while violently suppressing any dissent.
The recent convergence of widespread economic protests and raw fury over state-sanctioned killings demonstrates that these are not isolated incidents of discontent. Rather, they are the interconnected symptoms of a collapsing theocracy, fueling a unified, nationwide rejection of the ruling establishment in its entirety.
The regime’s policies are simultaneously creating an economic tinderbox and murdering its youth. Instead of instilling fear, this dual-front assault is galvanizing the Iranian people, turning every local protest into a potential flashpoint for a larger uprising.
The Economic Tinderbox: A Deliberate War on Livelihoods
More images of protest rally by bakers in Tehran, protesting the destructive results of the state-run Nanino bread and floud management system.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/eBSO51gSYf
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 13, 2025
Across Iran, the regime’s economic policies are provoking open defiance. In the capital, Tehran, bakers held protests on July 12, outraged by the dysfunctional “Nanino” subsidy system and new, arbitrary regulations requiring every individual worker in a bakery to hold a separate business license—an impossible demand for small, family-run shops. Their protests came as the regime officially hiked bread prices by a staggering 52% in the central districts of provinces like Ilam, directly attacking the most basic food source for millions.
Bakers in Tehran returned to the streets on Sunday, July 13, and gathered in front of the Interior Ministry to reiterate their demands as regime authorities continue to ignore their plight.
This crisis is systemic and touches every corner of the country. In Isfahan, merchants in the historic Chaharbagh Abbasi market face financial ruin from constant, crippling power outages that paralyze their businesses. In Arak, applicants for the national housing plan held sit-ins on July 12, protesting years of broken promises.
The situation is especially dire in the southeast. On July 13 in Iranshahr, healthcare personnel from the University of Medical Sciences protested after being denied their salaries for three consecutive months and refused formal employment contracts. On the same day in the same city, municipal agents used bulldozers to destroy the makeshift stalls of impoverished Baluchi fruit vendors, their only source of income, without warning or compensation.
July 13—Iranshahr, southeast Iran
Security forces and municipal authorities used a loader to demolish the makeshift stalls and business sites of Baluch street vendors at Aminifard roundabout.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/eZ5hnIB6qo— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 13, 2025
At the same time, retirees of the Social Security Organization resumed their protests on Sunday, July 13. In Rasht, northern Iran, the retirees rallied, reiterating their demands for higher pensions and basic services that the regime has denied them as the costs of living continue to rise under the destructive policies of the ruling mullahs.
Repression Fuels Revolutionary Anger
The regime’s response to this desperation is not relief, but brutal violence. However, the state-sanctioned murder of civilians is no longer silencing dissent; it is becoming the primary catalyst for explicitly political uprisings demanding retribution and regime change.
Nowhere was this clearer than in Hamedan. Following the killing of two young men by security forces, the city transformed into a hub of defiance. Despite a heavy security presence designed to intimidate the public, a vast crowd gathered on July 8 for the seventh-day memorial of the victims. The funeral itself, held on July 3, had already seen mourners turn their grief into fury, chanting slogans that directly targeted the regime’s core.
July 3—Hamedan, western Iran
Attendees at the funeral of two youth murdered by security forces chant anti-regime slogans. The two youth were killed at a Basij checkpoint after the guards opened fire on the passengers.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/8twrznktWR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 3, 2025
The chants from Hamedan are the authentic voice of a revolution in the making. Cries of “I will kill those who killed my brother” signaled a profound break from fear and a turn towards demanding justice by any means. Even more significant were the chants of “Our enemy is right here, they lie that it’s America,” a powerful and direct repudiation of decades of regime propaganda. The people of Hamedan, like millions across Iran, have unequivocally identified the clerical regime as the source of their suffering.