A new wave of protests swept across major Iranian cities on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, exposing the deepening fault lines of a regime besieged by systemic corruption and a catastrophic failure to provide basic services. From Tehran and Mashhad to Shiraz and Najafabad, citizens from all walks of life—including victims of state-sanctioned fraud, essential industry workers, and university students—took to the streets. Their separate grievances converged into a unified outcry against a government that has plundered the nation’s wealth while leaving its people without electricity, water, or justice.
Public Fury Over State-Sanctioned Corruption
In Tehran, public anger over high-level corruption was on full display as victims of the Hakim residential project fraud scheme held a protest rally for the second consecutive day. Demonstrators gathered outside the judiciary, accusing it of deliberately stalling the case to protect the main perpetrator, Ali Namdari, due to his documented connections to senior regime figures like Golpayegani and Majlis speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. Protesters held signs decrying that “Justice is trampled by cronyism and backroom deals,” demanding the case be transferred to a higher criminal court to address the vast, organized fraud that has devoured the savings of thousands of families.
August 26—Tehran, Iran
Defrauded creditors of the Hakim housing project continue protests against the financial fraud that caused thousands of families to lose their investments due to corruption and mismanagement.
The protesters are objecting to the judicial system's failure to… pic.twitter.com/ED9tuBOp9C— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 26, 2025
This scene was mirrored in Mashhad, where victims of another massive housing scam protested the judiciary’s inaction. In this case, each residential unit was fraudulently sold to as many as ten different people. Despite clear evidence and 300 plaintiffs, the perpetrators’ accomplices, according to the protesters, “walk freely in the city” because of their financial status and connections.
Meanwhile, in Tehran, a group of highly specialized electricity industry workers, known as the “Yellow Hats,” rallied outside the Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization. These operators of high-voltage substations protested the regime’s decision to arbitrarily exclude them from a legally mandated “special bonus,” which was approved by the parliament to retain skilled personnel. Their protest highlighted the regime’s discriminatory practices and refusal to abide by its own laws, even for workers in the country’s most critical infrastructure sectors.
August 26—Tehran, Iran
Protest by "yellow hat" electricity workers in Iran, who are striking due to the removal of a special allowance, a decision that contrasts with their hazardous, round-the-clock work at high-voltage posts.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/6thup3VirM— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 26, 2025
Protests Over Failing Infrastructure
Beyond financial plunder, the regime’s gross incompetence in managing basic infrastructure has pushed other communities to their breaking point. In Shiraz, female students at the university dormitory held nightly protests against chronic water and electricity outages. In Najafabad, residents rallied in front of the local electricity office after persistent power cuts severely impacted their livelihoods and businesses.
Significantly, the protesters in both cities chanted the same powerful slogan: “Water, electricity, life is our undeniable right.” This shared demand, echoing across different cities and demographics, demonstrates the emergence of a unified national sentiment against the regime’s failure to provide the most fundamental necessities for a dignified life.
August 26—Najafabad, central Iran
Residents rally in front of the local electricity office to protest persistent power outages, which have severely impacted their daily lives, businesses, and livelihood.
Protesters chant, "Water, electricity, life is our undeniable right."… pic.twitter.com/FOdmgLkmyM— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 26, 2025
Sustained Resistance: “No to Executions Tuesdays” Enters 83rd Week
In tandem with these socio-economic protests, the organized political movement against the regime’s primary tool of repression continues to gain momentum. On the same day, August 26, the nationwide “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign marked its 83rd consecutive week, with prisoners holding hunger strikes in 53 prisons across the country. At the same time, citizens staged activities in support of the campaign in dozens of cities, including Tehran, Rasht, Kermanshah, Sari, and Lahijan.
The slogans were overtly political and defiant, directly challenging the regime’s authority. Chants of “The next execution will be an uprising,” “Political prisoners must be freed,” and “Our response to execution is red fire and uprising” rang out, linking the state’s use of the death penalty to a broader call for regime change. At the heart of this movement are the families of death row prisoners, especially mothers, who bravely lead protests despite facing immense security pressures, chanting, “Our children are innocent, do not execute.”
August 26—Tehran, Iran
In tandem with the 83rd week of the "No to Executions Tuesdays" campaign, families of political prisoners on death row rally to call for the revocation of the death sentence of their loved ones.#StopExecutionsInIranpic.twitter.com/RbAYQqqX9i— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 26, 2025
The protests of August 26 illustrate a crucial reality in Iran today: the struggles of the Iranian people have merged into a single, powerful front. The victim of a corrupt housing project, the skilled worker denied his wages, the student deprived of electricity, and the mother fighting to save her child from the gallows are all standing against the same source of suffering. Their unified slogans and unwavering defiance show that the popular demand is an end to a corrupt and illegitimate regime that has failed them on every conceivable level.