“Our rights can only be won in the streets,” protesters chant
On Sunday and Monday, September 20 and 21, 2026, various segments of the public, including Social Security and steel industry retirees, workers, job-seeking youth, and victims of financial plundering by regime-affiliated institutions, held protests and marches in several cities, including Tehran, Ahvaz, Shush, Rasht, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Mashhad, Hamedan, and Yasuj, to protest their dire living conditions and the regime’s predatory policies.
On Monday, September 21, Social Security retirees in the cities of Shush, Rasht, Ahvaz, Tehran, and Kermanshah gathered to protest their meager pensions, which are entirely disproportionate to the skyrocketing inflation and their plummeting living standards. They chanted slogans such as, “The pensioner’s refrigerator is emptier than ever,” “Our rights can only be won in the streets,” “Retiree, shout out, demand your rights,” and “Deplorable inflation has crushed the market.” Meanwhile, steel industry retirees in Isfahan marched from Darvazeh Dowlat toward the regime’s governorate office, demanding that their insurance claims and pension adjustments be addressed immediately.
Victims of the IRGC-affiliated Fajr Stock institution gathered in front of the regime’s court in Mashhad. Victims of the Unique Finance company, after four years of fruitless efforts, held protests in the Grand Bazaar and in front of the judiciary and the regime’s revolutionary court in Tehran. Victims of Excoino, the Salehiyeh residential project, and automobile applicants also held protest gatherings at the Kerman Motor headquarters. In Hamedan, applicants for the Beheshti town national housing project gathered in front of the regime’s Inspection Organization.
On Sunday, September 20, the youth of the Mouran and Amishieh villages in Khuzestan gathered to protest unemployment and systemic deprivation. The regime’s suppressive forces, fearing the expansion of these protests, opened fire on the youth and used pepper spray against them. The protesters, who are denied employment despite living in a region with vast wealth, chanted, “What do the youth of Khuzestan want? Jobs, or bullets?” On the same day, railway maintenance and technical infrastructure workers in the southern region protested against the persistent non-payment of their wages, and stallholders in Yasuj held a protest in front of the regime’s governorate office.
Additionally, on Sunday, job-seeking youth from the Salah-al-Din (Mianrud) area in Qonaitereh (Dezful) county once again gathered and held a sit-in in front of the Beheshti Agro-Industry company to protest high unemployment and the authorities’ refusal to employ local staff.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
22 September 2026