A coordinated surge of protests swept across Iran on June 2, 2025, as citizens in numerous cities took to the streets, their voices unified against deepening economic hardship and the systemic corruption they attribute directly to the ruling regime and its powerful institutions. The protests, diverse in their participants but common in their grievances, paint a stark picture of a populace pushed to its limits.
The most widespread demonstrations involved retirees of the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), who staged simultaneous rallies in multiple urban centers. From Tehran and Kermanshah in the west, to Sanandaj, Ilam, Tabriz in the northwest, Isfahan in the center, and Rasht and Golestan in the north, pensioners voiced their anger over inadequate pensions and benefits.
June 2—Iran
Retirees of the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) resume protests to raise their demands for better pensions and benefits.
Protesters chant, "We will not rest until we get our rights" and "What has happened to the high-income company?"pic.twitter.com/eDd5BMToge— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 2, 2025
In Tehran, protesters chanted, “We will not rest until we get our rights” and critically questioned, “What has happened to the high-income company?” Their counterparts in Kermanshah echoed this resolve, declaring, “We will come back every Monday until we get our rights,” and condemned the company by stating, “TCI obeys no law.”
Similar scenes of defiance unfolded in Isfahan, where retirees accused, “TCI obeys no rules,” and decried regime institutions managing the company as “all liars and thieves.” In Ilam, the desperation was palpable as protesters proclaimed, “They’ve taken our livelihoods as hostage. We won’t stay silent anymore.”
At the heart of the TCI retirees’ grievances is the alleged mismanagement and plunder of their pension funds by entities intrinsically linked to the regime’s core power structures. In Kermanshah, protesters specifically highlighted “systemic injustice, including the mismanagement of their pensions by major shareholders like the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and the IRGC Cooperative Foundation.”
More footage of protests by TCI retirees in different cities in Iran.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/D99oJpVzIv
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 2, 2025
They accused these powerful bodies, which hold significant stakes in TCI, of failing “to meet legal obligations.” This accusation was directly echoed in Rasht, where retirees chanted, “The Execution of Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) organization has stolen our pensions.” In both Rasht and Marivan, retirees demanded the full implementation of employment and welfare regulations approved in 2010, underscoring years of unfulfilled promises.
Retirees in Marivan further exposed the dire inadequacy of recent adjustments, noting that some 20,000 among them received increases as low as 20,000 to one million tomans – a sum they described as a “heinous and unjustifiable injustice” against their livelihoods.
The protests on June 2nd were not confined to pensioners. Across Iran, other sectors of society also rose up against the regime’s economic policies. In Golestan province in northern Iran, potato farmers held a rally, struggling with financial losses they attribute directly to these policies.
June 2—Golestan, northern Iran
Potato farmers hold protest rally as they struggle with financial losses caused by the regime's policies.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/djJtjeV95o— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 2, 2025
In Zanjan, northwest Iran, workers of the Tesco Company demonstrated in front of the governorate, protesting the company’s violations of labor laws concerning “hard and hazardous” jobs.
Further south, in Bandar Abbas, fishmongers protested their harsh working conditions, specifically highlighting the lack of air conditioning in their market, even staging their protest in the presence of a health ministry representative.
In Galikesh, also in Golestan province, tractor drivers joined the wave of dissent, protesting rising fuel costs and broader economic pressures in tandem with ongoing truckers’ movements. These varied protests underscore a widespread national frustration, as articulated by the TCI retirees in Ilam: “They’ve taken our livelihoods as hostage. We won’t stay silent anymore.”
June 2—Galikesh, northern Iran
Protest by tractor drivers in Golestan province in tandem with the broader movement of truckers protesting rising fuel costs and economic pressures.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/Y8oTtHjRlR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 2, 2025
While citizens across the nation voice their economic despair through peaceful assembly, reports continue to emerge of the regime’s brutal tactics in other areas, underscoring a consistent disregard for the Iranian people’s basic rights and well-being.
For instance, on June 1, 2025, state security forces raided the village of Hossein Abad Jikooli in Zahedan. Around 4 AM on Sunday, these forces began demolishing homes. Over 30 houses were reportedly destroyed, with the operation extending to other parts of the village.
According to one resident, officers broke down doors, violently woke women and children, including those in single-parent households, and forcibly evicted them from their homes. This stark contrast between peaceful economic protests and violent state repression highlights the regime’s priorities.
More footage of the attack by regime security forces against the village of Hossein Abad near Zahedan.pic.twitter.com/DYIzyFHwXF
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 1, 2025
The breadth and intensity of these June 2nd protests, from the coordinated actions of TCI retirees directly accusing powerful parastatal organizations like EIKO and the IRGC Cooperative Foundation of plundering their funds, to the disparate cries of farmers, laborers, and small business owners, signal a profound and deepening crisis of legitimacy for the Iranian regime.
The chants on the streets are not merely pleas for economic relief; they are indictments of a system perceived as corrupt, unaccountable, and indifferent to the suffering of its citizens. The Iranian people are increasingly demonstrating their refusal to passively bear the brunt of decades of economic mismanagement and institutionalized corruption. Their demands for basic rights, dignity, and a government that serves their interests, rather than plundering their resources, are growing louder and more insistent, challenging the very foundations of the clerical regime.