On International Workers’ Day, Iran witnessed a new wave of protests as teachers, students, retirees, truck drivers, and bakers took to the streets in various cities to voice demands for economic justice, improved working conditions, and solidarity with victims of the recent Bandar Abbas port explosion.
In Kermanshah, western Iran, working and retired teachers gathered outside the Ministry of Education to demand better pensions and job rights. Protesters also called for the release of imprisoned activists, marking both May Day and National Teachers’ Day. Similar protests by educators were held in Shiraz, Harsin, Eslamabad-e-Gharb, and Tehran, where teachers faced preemptive threats, including phone intimidation and summonses by security agencies, according to local reports.
May 1—Iran
Protest by teachers and educators in Harsin, Eslamabad-e-Gharb, Kermanshah, Tehran, and Shiraz, demanding better rights and wages despite security threats, including phone intimidation and summons by authorities.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/uoN98Colaw— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 1, 2025
In Babol, northern Iran, students at Noshirvani University held a candlelight vigil to mourn those killed in the recent explosion at Bandar Abbas. Carrying signs and observing a moment of silence, the students stood in quiet defiance despite tight state surveillance.
Solidarity with the Bandar Abbas victims was echoed by truck drivers in Qom and Isfahan, who organized rallies highlighting both their sympathy and the broader failures of the regime in ensuring public safety.
May 1—Qom, central Iran
Truck drivers hold rally in solidarity with the victims of the Bandar Abbas explosion.pic.twitter.com/qlMvUBci2e— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 1, 2025
In Rasht, northern Iran, bakers demonstrated in front of the Gilan governorate demanding fair prices and policies that protect their livelihood. Similar rallies by bakers were held earlier in Qom and Shiraz. Meanwhile, in Tehran, retirees from the United Bus Company protested delayed benefits and a lack of support for those in hazardous professions.
Additionally, further demonstrations were held across Iran on April 30. In Qazvin, housing applicants staged a protest demanding their long-delayed entitlements under the National Housing Plan. In Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, poultry farmers gathered to protest rising feed costs and government inaction threatening their livelihoods. Meanwhile, bus company retirees in Tehran demonstrated on April 30 over the non-payment of benefits related to hazardous jobs. Also noteworthy were protest rallies by bakers in Qom and Shiraz, held in front of local governorates on April 30, opposing steep production costs and state-imposed pricing policies.
These protests come amid ongoing economic hardship and rising dissatisfaction with the clerical regime’s handling of wages, pensions, inflation, and labor rights. The widespread nature of the protests — cutting across professions, provinces, and generations — underscores a deepening national frustration that continues to fuel civil resistance in the country.
PMOI Resistance Units mark International Workers' Day across Iran with anti-regime activities and messages of solidarity with Iranian workers, especially the victims of the Bandar Abbas explosion. pic.twitter.com/i8O48NwG3k
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 1, 2025