An alarming rate that is at least 19 times higher than in the United States, 25 times higher than in France, and 70 times higher than in Norway and Sweden, relative to the number of workers.
This catastrophe is a result of the brutal exploitation of workers under the despised clerical regime, and the complete control of the economy by Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Alireza Raisi, Deputy Minister of Health of the clerical regime, made a shocking admission: “Annually, 10,000 workers lose their lives due to work-related accidents” (State-run ILNA News Agency, May 14, 2025).
This confession, which represents only a fraction of the brutal exploitation of workers under the vile rule of Ali Khamenei, highlights the silent and organized killing of workers in Iran under clerical rule—an ongoing tragedy that grows worse by the day. The official statistics from the Ministry of Health do not include a significant portion of uninsured and undocumented laborers. As a result, some state-affiliated sources believe the real number of worker deaths is much higher.
According to the Ministry of Health’s statistics, at least 27 workers fall victim to workplace incidents every day. Based on the same data, assuming a maximum of 15 million workers in Iran, around 67 workers per 100,000 die annually due to occupational accidents. This fatality rate is at least 19 times higher than that of the United States, 25 times that of France, and 70 times that of Norway and Sweden, where the worker fatality rates due to work-related accidents are 3.5, 2.6, and less than 1 per 100,000, respectively. Under the inhumane clerical regime, the lives and well-being of workers and laborers hold no value.
According to the regime’s own admissions, 96 percent of Iranian workers are employed under temporary contracts, lacking job security and insurance, and are forced to work in dangerous conditions in workplaces, including factories and mines, without the essential safety equipment and protective gear. There is no oversight from the Ministry of Labor to enforce workplace safety standards. Families of deceased or injured workers receive no insurance support and face extreme poverty. A clear example is the families of those who perished in the Bandar Abbas explosion—many of whom were not even publicly identified.
According to the state-run Eghtesad 24 website, in recent years “over 80 percent of Iranian households have fallen below the global poverty line” (December 20, 2024). In such conditions, the financial and psychological burden caused by workplace accidents pushes workers’ families to the brink of collapse. The increasing number of suicides among workers reflects the unrestrained oppression imposed by the ruling clerics.
The seizure of production institutions—particularly in the oil, gas, steel, and mining industries—by the IRGC and security agencies has subjected workers in these sectors to the most brutal forms of exploitation and job insecurity. Practices such as employment through blank contracts, unpaid wages, and immediate dismissal upon protest have become routine in these units.
The only path to saving workers and laborers from these horrific tragedies, and the only adequate response to such widespread injustice, is the overthrow of the entire clerical regime and the establishment of democracy, justice, and the sovereignty of the people.
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
Labor Committee
18 May 2025