A tidal wave of protest swept across Iran on Saturday, September 27, 2025, exposing the clerical regime’s profound inability to govern. In a remarkable and widespread show of dissent, workers, medical staff, students, bakers, and drivers staged simultaneous protests in multiple cities, each demonstration a testament to a nation pushed to its breaking point by systemic corruption, economic ruin, and violent oppression. The events of this single day paint a stark picture of a failed state teetering on the edge of collapse, confronted by a populace that is increasingly organized and unwilling to remain silent.
The Rot in Iran’s Economic Heartland: Workers Rise Up
The engine of Iran’s economy—its industrial and energy sectors—ground to a halt in several key locations as workers rose up against the regime’s plunder and mismanagement. At the massive South Pars gas complex, workers at Phase 14 took the decisive step of shutting down the two main entry gates, protesting months of unpaid wages and the leadership’s hollow promises. Their blockade sent a clear message: the lifeblood of the regime’s revenue is being managed by a workforce that the regime itself has abandoned.
September 27—Kangan, southern Iran
Workers at Phase 14 of the South Pars Gas Complex refinery blocked the two main entrances of the facility in protest over unfulfilled promises by officials and unpaid wages and benefits.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Ya7xlcXQVc— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 27, 2025
This defiance was echoed in Ahvaz, where workers of the National Steel Group, still awaiting their salaries for August and September, were blocked by authorities from gathering in front of the provincial governor’s office. They were offered yet another promise of payment, a tactic they have learned to distrust. Meanwhile, at the Gonabad Taghdis Porcelain factory, personnel ceased work entirely, holding a rally on the factory grounds to protest severe delays in their pay.
The crisis has paralyzed even the most fundamental state infrastructure. A group of locomotive drivers, the backbone of the nation’s rail transport, were forced to gather outside the Ministry of Roads in Tehran to demand their long-overdue wages. In a similar scene of desperation, truck drivers rallied outside the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade, protesting the months-long bureaucratic limbo that has left their imported trucks, and their capital, locked away at customs.
September 27—Tehran, Iran
Truck importers rally in front of the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade, demanding accountability from officials over the failure to release their trucks from customs after months of waiting.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/uCdXrGuwLs— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 27, 2025
The Collapse of Public Services: A Nation Betrayed
The regime’s failure extends far beyond industrial sites, striking at the heart of Iran’s public services and endangering the health and well-being of its citizens. In a shocking indictment of the system’s decay, personnel at the Razi Psychiatric Hospital in the Aminabad district of Tehran protested after going an entire year without receiving their salaries and benefits.
This neglect of frontline medical staff was also on display in Rafsanjan, where nurses gathered outside the University of Medical Sciences to demand months of overdue overtime pay and back wages. Their chants and placards were a public condemnation of a system that has repeatedly betrayed its healthcare heroes.
September 27—Mashhad, northeast Iran
Bakers in the city of Mashhad gathered in front of the provincial governor’s office to protest the non-payment of government subsidies.
They demanded to know why the bread subsidies—which are supposed to guarantee people’s livelihood and the… pic.twitter.com/QDrpGw5agS— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 27, 2025
In Mashhad, the crisis hit the most basic of necessities: bread. Bakers rallied in front of the provincial governor’s office, their central question echoing across the city: “Where is our bread subsidy?” The regime’s failure to pay essential subsidies has pushed them to the brink of bankruptcy and threatens the food security of millions.
The Youth and the Oppressed: A Future Under Threat
While failing its current workforce, the regime is also systematically dismantling the future for its youth and responding with brute force against its most vulnerable citizens. At Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, students from the faculties of Rehabilitation and Management went on strike, occupying the central university building to protest a forced relocation. Displaying remarkable organization, they refused to negotiate with junior officials and insisted on speaking only with the university president, chanting “We won’t stop protesting until the university president arrives.”
September 27—Tehran, Iran
Parents of university entrance exam students protest the decision by the Ministry of Education and the Iranian regime’s parliament regarding the definitive inclusion of GPA and academic records from 11th and 12th grades in the national exam process,… pic.twitter.com/LpVtATS1G5— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 27, 2025
In another protest, parents of university applicants gathered to oppose a new admissions policy that gives “absolute influence” to high school GPA, a rule they argue destroys educational fairness and their children’s futures.
Meanwhile, in the southeastern region of Dashtiari, the regime’s cruelty was on full display. On Thursday, September 25, agents from the Mersad border post were reported to have brutally attacked impoverished fuel carriers by throwing rocks at their vehicles. In a chilling detail, the agents placed the rocks inside flour sacks to inflict maximum damage—a calculated act of violence against people forced into this deadly trade by the regime’s own economic failures.
The events of September 27 were not a series of isolated incidents but a synchronized eruption of a nation’s fury. The protests reveal a fundamental truth: the ruling theocracy is incapable of providing even the most basic security and livelihood for its people. The crisis is a direct result of the institutionalized corruption overseen by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and executed by entities like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
From the oil fields to the hospitals, and from university halls to the nation’s bakeries, the Iranian people are demonstrating that their patience has expired. These are not merely economic protests; they are a political indictment of an illegitimate and incompetent regime.