A wave of protest is sweeping across Iran, as citizens in multiple provinces rise up against both the regime’s political tyranny and its catastrophic failure to provide basic services. In the first week of August 2025, coordinated strikes, public demonstrations, and acts of civil disobedience have exposed the deep-seated anger of a populace pushed to its limit, while top officials have responded not with solutions, but with open threats of more violence and bloodshed.
The Semirom Strike
On Thursday, August 7, 2025, the city of Semirom in Isfahan province was brought to a standstill by a general strike. Shopkeepers and merchants shuttered their businesses in a powerful act of protest against the death sentences handed down to two local political prisoners, brothers Fazel and Mehran Bahramian.
August 7—Semirom, central Iran
Widespread strikes in Semirom in protest to death sentences for political prisoners Fazel Bahramian and Mehran Bahramian.#IranProtestshttps://t.co/Vc3hiawNih— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 7, 2025
The regime’s persecution of the Bahramian family is a long and tragic story. Another brother, Morad Bahramian, was shot and killed by security forces during protests in November 2022. Fazel and Mehran were first arrested in January 2023, released on bail in March 2025, only to be re-arrested on July 29, 2025, and swiftly sentenced to death. In a desperate attempt to break the strike, regime agents threatened merchants that they would use grinding tools to forcibly open their shops, but the protest has reportedly continued, signaling a defiant public stand against the regime’s use of execution as a tool of terror.
A Nation’s Outcry Over Systemic Collapse
Running parallel to the political protests are widespread demonstrations fueled by the complete collapse of basic utilities. On Thursday, August 7, merchants in Nikshahr, Sistan and Baluchestan province, gathered outside the local electricity department. They protested the constant, unplanned power cuts that are devastating their businesses. “Every day we open our shops without electricity,” one protester stated. “We pay rent, taxes, and bills, but no one answers for our losses.”
August 7—Nikshahr, southeast Iran
Merchants gathered outside the local electricity department, protesting the constant, unplanned power cuts that are devastating their businesses.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/2ZLoXrzush— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 7, 2025
The day before, on Wednesday, August 6, protests erupted in multiple cities. In Karaj, near the capital, outrage over power outages quickly turned political, with citizens taking to the streets at night chanting the ultimate anti-regime slogan: “Death to Khamenei.”
In Rasht, a crowd gathered in Sabze-Meydan Square to protest the chronic lack of water and electricity, chanting, “Water, electricity, life; our undeniable right.” Within minutes, regime security forces on motorcycles attacked the peaceful assembly, but were met with fierce resistance from the enraged crowd. That same day, youths in the Zivdar district of Poldokhtar blocked the main Khorramabad-Poldokhtar highway to protest the same dire living conditions, bringing traffic to a halt to draw attention to their ignored demands.
August 6—Rasht, northern Iran
Residents rally at Sabzeh Meydan to protest constant and prolonged electricity and water outages and the regime's lack of mitigation measures.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/ukMKpylRWc— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 7, 2025
The Regime’s Lethal Response
As the people’s protests grow, the regime’s leadership has made its intentions clear: to crush dissent with lethal force. On August 5, Ahmad-Reza Radan, the commander of the State Security Forces, made a stunning and horrifying admission. “Since the beginning of the year [March 2025] … we have shot and grounded more than 47 thugs who intended to resist our men,” Radan stated. He then added, “Several of them were fortunately killed. Fortunately killed. We are not joking with anyone.”
This brazen confession of a shoot-to-kill policy was echoed by the Judiciary Chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who on the same day called for a “decisive” crackdown on so-called “spies.” While cynically claiming not to set aside “justice and law,” he boasted of the regime’s efficiency in state-sanctioned killing: “We will certainly expedite and be more precise in handling their cases.”
A Regime on the Defensive, A Nation on the Offensive
The events of recent days paint a clear picture of a regime that has lost all legitimacy and capability to govern. While the new administration of Masoud Pezeshkian is in office, the state’s pillars of repression remain unchanged, offering only threats, violence, and confessions of murder in response to the legitimate demands of the people. From the politically charged strike in Semirom to the infrastructure-driven rage in Karaj, Rasht, and Nikshahr, the Iranian people are demonstrating that their grievances are interconnected and their target is the corrupt ruling system in its entirety. Faced with a regime that proudly declares its intent to kill them, the people of Iran are showing they have nothing left to lose and an unwavering resolve to reclaim their country.