On Sunday, April 20, protests and unrest continued across Iran, spanning from labor rallies in major cities to violent crackdowns in the restive southeast. The breadth of mobilizations and the regime’s escalating response point to an increasingly volatile social landscape.
In Isfahan (central Iran), retirees from the steel and mining sectors resumed protests to demand fair pensions and access to basic services. Protesters expressed frustration over years of broken promises. Similar protests erupted in Rasht (northern Iran), Ahvaz, Shush, and Tehran, where retirees of the Social Security Organization denounced the government’s failure to provide livable pensions. In Rasht, demonstrators chanted, “Neither parliament nor government cares about the people!”
In Tehran, workers at the Metro Company rallied outside city hall to protest their employment conditions, directing their slogans at Mayor Alireza Zakani. Meanwhile, Tehran’s Grand Bazaar witnessed a partial strike by merchants opposing the Endowment Organization’s interference in their business operations.
April 20—Tehran, Iran
Tehran Metro workers protested outside the Tehran Municipality, demanding better working conditions and chanting against Mayor Alireza Zakani.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/gpcI1BtznR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 20, 2025
In Gachsaran (southwest Iran), contract oil and gas workers staged a demonstration demanding the elimination of third-party contractors, the implementation of proper job classification, and improved work conditions. Similar demands were echoed by workers at the Pars South Gas Refinery and by steel retirees in Kerman.
In Marivan, Kurdistan Province, shopkeepers closed their stores in protest against soaring rental prices, while in Varzaneh, near Isfahan, marginalized farmers rallied outside the governor’s office after several of their peers were arrested.
The ongoing protests were paralleled by a deadly military operation in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and intelligence forces launched a pre-dawn assault on villages around Zahedan. Using drones and heavy equipment, regime forces raided homes in Chah-Ahmad, Sorna’i, Ismailabad, and Qaleh-Bid, detaining at least 26 residents without judicial warrants, including teenagers and a 19-year-old autistic man. According to a human rights group, one local, Vali Mohammad Mohammadzehi, was killed in a drone strike. A member of the IRGC’s Quds Base, Eshaq Mokhtari, was also reported killed during an exchange of fire.
April 20—Gachsaran, southwest Iran
Contract workers of the Gachsaran Oil and Gas Company hold protest rally, demanding the elimination of intermediary contracting companies, direct employment contracts, and an end to workplace discrimination.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/ghpdWA1qFG— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 20, 2025
Simultaneously, in Bazepiran, near Bampur, unidentified individuals torched construction machinery belonging to a road-building company affiliated with the IRGC’s Nasr Cooperative. The company was overseeing a key project linking Chabahar and Iranshahr. Sources report the destruction of millions of tomans worth of equipment, including graders, rollers, and compressors.
The scale and coordination of the regime’s crackdown have drawn scrutiny, particularly as observers note that these actions reflect a regime deeply fearful of domestic uprisings. According to a statement from the security forces, the operation was part of the “Martyrs of Security” exercises and aimed at neutralizing what they described as separatist threats. However, human rights sources emphasize that the true motive lies in silencing dissent and tightening control in a restive society.
Resistance Units honor April 19 martyrs murdered by the Shah regime https://t.co/qiaPkcfIzC
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 19, 2025
On state television, Ahmadreza Radan, the commander of the regime’s State Security Forces, admitted that regime institutions were losing influence over youth populations. “Social harms are no longer caused by personal or familial issues alone,” he said. “They are being driven by targeted, organized plans of the enemy.” He added: “The enemy knows our most influential group is students. That is why they are using modern platforms to hijack the minds of our youth.”
Despite intensified repression, the protests on April 20—urban and rural, economic and political—demonstrated a broad-based and persistent discontent that the regime has yet to contain. From labor unrest in the capital to drone attacks in Baluchestan, the gap between state control and societal anger is growing more pronounced by the day.