A wave of protests swept across multiple sectors in Iran on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, laying bare the systemic failures and brutal priorities of the ruling regime. From industrial laborers and municipal workers to university students and defrauded investors, citizens took to the streets to protest conditions that have become intolerable. The events of the day paint a stark picture of a government that responds to legitimate demands for wages, safe food, and financial justice with riot police, arrests, and institutionalized theft.
Labor Suppression: The Isfahan Steel Crackdown
In Isfahan, workers from the Isfahan Steel Company attempted to stage a peaceful protest in front of the provincial governor’s office. Their demands were simple: the payment of long-overdue wages and relief from the crushing economic pressures that have left their families destitute. Instead of dialogue, they were met with a massive, pre-planned security operation. A heavy presence of state security forces, plainclothes agents, and company security personnel descended on the area, effectively blocking the gathering before it could begin. According to reports, several workers were identified and arrested on the spot. This heavy-handed response follows a similar ignored protest on October 30, signaling a clear regime policy of silencing dissent rather than addressing its root causes.
Municipal Strikes and Student Outcry
The labor unrest extended to Nurabad Mamasani, where sanitation and green space municipal workers went on strike. Their grievances echoed those in Isfahan: chronic non-payment of wages, exploitative contractors who threaten them with dismissal, and a string of broken promises from local officials. One worker highlighted the absurdity of their situation, noting that employees with 10 to 15 years of service, working 8 to 12-hour shifts, still do not earn enough to feed their families.
November 19—Nurabad Mamasani, southern Iran
Municipal sanitation and green-space workers launched another strike over threats of firing, wage cuts, delayed pay, and abuse by the city’s contractor. They demand justice and an end to exploitative practices.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/uSeq7JGSoP— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 19, 2025
Meanwhile, in Tehran, the regime’s corruption manifested as a literal health crisis. Students at the Beheshti University gathered to protest the dangerously poor quality of food served in the cafeterias. Reports from the protest described raw meat being served as “kebab” and rotten schnitzel from the previous night causing widespread food poisoning, including nausea and stomach cramps. Holding signs and chanting, the students made their position clear: “Food is not a luxury; it is a basic right.” Their protest was not about taste, but a warning about a severe public health failure endangering thousands.
State-Organized Theft: The Cryptoland Scandal
The day’s most politically charged protest took place outside the Tehran Courthouse, where victims of the Cryptoland financial collapse rallied after three years of stonewalling. Their chants struck at the heart of the regime’s legitimacy: “Shame on our Judiciary” and “Hussein is their slogan, lying and theft is their work!”
November 19—Tehran, Iran
Victims of the Cryptoland exchange rallied outside the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, demanding answers after three years with no clarity on their case or repayment of losses caused by the company's corrupt practices.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/BBO385fo3l— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 19, 2025
Their anger is profoundly justified. Investigations reveal the Cryptoland case was not a simple crypto scam but a large-scale heist orchestrated by senior interrogators from the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization. One day after the exchange’s CEO was arrested in 2021, IRGC interrogators, led by Behnam (Mehdi) Hajipour, transferred and sold approximately $21.7 million worth of tokens from his wallet. While over 51,000 small investors lost their savings, the IRGC agents who stole their money were caught trying to sell the assets back on the market. The protest is a testament to a judiciary that protects IRGC criminals while leaving tens of thousands of citizens financially ruined.
The protests of November 19 are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a deeply rotten system. Whether it is a steelworker demanding his paycheck, a student asking for safe food, or an investor seeking justice, the opponent is the same: a corrupt and repressive regime that has plundered the nation’s wealth and responds to any form of dissent with the full force of the state. The diverse and defiant voices heard across Iran send a unified message—the people are no longer willing to tolerate a government that poisons their food, steals their savings, and silences their calls for basic human dignity.