From May 7 to May 11, 2025, Iran has been gripped by an extraordinary wave of protests that have rippled from border towns to major metropolitan centers. The country has seen demonstrations by bakers and retirees over chronic electricity cuts, crane operators, paramedics, water and power workers, street vendors, and ordinary citizens.
The catalysts are all too familiar: unrelenting power blackouts, soaring production costs, delayed wages, and systemic corruption.
On May 11, 2025, pensioners from the steel and mining sectors took to the streets in Isfahan, central Iran, denouncing delayed pensions and deficient healthcare coverage. Simultaneously in Arak, central Iran, bakers assembled outside the governor’s office, decrying surging production costs and erratic power cuts. “Expenses have soared to the sky and no one is held to account—these conditions can’t go on,” one baker warned, foreshadowing protests spreading to other cities if authorities remain silent.
May 11—Isfahan, central Iran
Retirees of the steel and mining industry resume weekly protest rallies to reiterate demands for higher pensions and basic needs. Protesters slam officials for their hypocrisy and inattention to their needs.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/cZNVYbNW1d— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 11, 2025
Also on May 11, in Darab, southern Iran, locals blocked key roads to vent their fury over continuous blackouts, lambasting the regime’s “incompetence and neglect.” In Shiraz, riot forces assaulted a female street vendor; when she tried to film the brutality, an officer barked, “If you record, I’ll get you!”
On May 10, bakers in Kerman, southeastern Iran, railed against daily power cuts that ruined four to five sacks of flour each morning. “What kind of farce is this? Every day our quota is spoiled—when will they get their act together?” one baker fumed. Across the country in Rasht, northern Iran, emergency personnel, who risked their lives during the pandemic, assembled under the slogan, “Cry out for your rights! We are heirs of pain, we fought coronavirus without support, our tables are empty.” Meanwhil,e in Ahvaz, southern Iran, water and sewage workers protested three months of unpaid wages, demanding implementation of promised job classifications and benefits.
May 10—Arak, central Iran
Bakers rally in front of the provincial governorate to protest severe economic conditions, including skyrocketing production costs and frequent power outages.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/dxF6wI5GtM— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 10, 2025
Even more striking was May 8 in Gonabad, northeastern Iran, where fish farmers spilled two tons of dead fish on the doorstep of the local power office to dramatize their losses. “How much fish of yours has gone to waste? Two tons—look at these bags,” one fisherman shouted, holding up rotting produce. Their cries highlight a regime that neither warns nor compensates those hurt most by its failing grid.
By May 7, power cuts in Ramhormoz left families “destroyed” overnight, as one resident lamented, “Our lives have been ruined—everything is gone.” In Urmia, northwestern Iran, bakeries stood idle when electric ovens failed, burning loaves and angering crowds. Recognizing the crisis, the Ministry of Interior decreed all government offices and banks closed on Thursdays until September 22, while regime MPs admitted daily blackouts could hit four hours. Such measures, far from solving the crisis, underscore a government trapped by its own mismanagement.
Amid this upheaval, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) Resistance Units staged covert actions in Zahedan on May 9, with slogans and warnings such as: “We will not let Khamenei and his agents don the mask of patriotism to escape the uprising.” Their activities signal an organized undercurrent ready to amplify street outrage into political confrontation.
PMOI Resistance Units in Zahedan condemn Iran's regime for disaster in Bandar Abbas, reiterate commitment for regime change and the establishment of a democratic republic.#PMOI #ResistanceUnits pic.twitter.com/E8w3Omg847
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 10, 2025
The regime’s response to protests has been brutal. In Gilan’s Zibakenar, a 19-year-old named Sahel Nasiri was shot twice in the head by suppression forces after refusing an invasive search—an act the local police commander later admitted. Such killings are designed to terrorize, but instead, they have fueled a cycle of grief and anger. As Iranians face daily indignities—from spoiled flour to shattered livelihoods—their defiance only deepens. This latest torrent of protests, powered by economic despair and exposed corruption, shows no sign of abating. The people’s demand is simple: accountability, justice, and an end to a system that serves only a corrupt elite.