On September 12 and 13, 2025, a new wave of coordinated protests swept across Iran, revealing a nation pushed to its breaking point by the clerical regime’s systemic corruption and economic ruin. From strategic offshore oil platforms and vital industrial centers to impoverished border towns and the nation’s capital, Iranians from all walks of life have launched a unified outcry against a system that has plundered their resources and denied them their basic rights.
The Heart of Iran’s Economy Rebels
The regime’s economic lifeline faced direct disruption on Friday, September 12, as employees of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company staged coordinated protests. Gatherings were reported on the Lavan and Siri islands, as well as on the Nasr and Ilam offshore oil platforms, striking at the core of the regime’s wealth. These actions demonstrate deep-seated discontent within a sector whose revenues are routinely diverted to fund the regime’s internal suppression and foreign warmongering.
Meanwhile, the strike at the Arak Aluminum company has defiantly entered its 46th day. Workers are demanding the modernization of dilapidated equipment, a safe work environment, the implementation of a fair job classification plan, and the timely payment of their wages. They accuse a corrupt “steel mafia” and management of deliberately driving the historic company toward collapse. The regime responded with a mix of intimidation and deception. On Friday, the IRGC’s Intelligence summoned worker representatives in an attempt to coerce them into ending the strike. Simultaneously, company management staged a fake photo-op in the cafeteria to create the illusion that the strike was over—a ploy quickly exposed by the workers, who confirmed the strike continues and threatened a dry hunger strike if their demands are not met by Monday.
September 13—Mirjaveh, southeast Iran#IranProtests
Residents of Rig Malek district in Mirjaveh County blocked the main road for the second consecutive day by burning tires.
They protested the border policies of the IRGC and the provincial governor’s office.
Agriculture has been… pic.twitter.com/KMPyJesfCJ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 13, 2025
Cries Against Regime Pillage
In the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, residents of the Rig Malek district in Mirjaveh blocked the main road with burning tires for two consecutive days, on September 12 and 13. Their protest directly targets the IRGC and the provincial government for closing the local border, which they describe as their “only source of income.” This policy has decimated local agriculture and employment. Compounding their misery is a new agricultural fuel scheme that they call “blatant injustice.” One protester delivered a stark warning to the authorities: “If you don’t open the border, we won’t be silent. If you want security, you must provide for the people’s livelihood.”
Hundreds of kilometers away in Torqorud, near Natanz, residents gathered on Friday to protest illegal and destructive mining operations that are destroying the region’s natural environment. They charge that these activities, conducted without regard for environmental regulations, are ruining mountains, depleting vital water resources, and threatening their farmlands. Despite repeated appeals to government and environmental agencies, their pleas have been ignored. Their banners captured the essence of their struggle: “Our right is a healthy life and nature, not destroyed mountains and scorched earth.”
Farmers Bring the Fight for Survival to the Capital
The struggle for survival also reached the capital on Saturday, September 13, as farmers from the Isfahan province traveled to Tehran. They came to protest years of the regime’s broken promises to revive the Zayandeh-Rud river, a waterway whose death has destroyed their livelihoods. Their presence in Tehran is a powerful symbol of defiance, showing that the regime can no longer contain the people’s anger within provincial borders. For these farmers, their share of the nation’s wealth has been nothing but “drought, poverty, and lies.”
September 13—Tehran, Iran#IranProtests
A group of farmers came to Tehran to demand justice for their plundered water rights and unfulfilled promises regarding the reopening of the Zayandeh Rud River. Once a vital source of agricultural life, the Zayandeh Rud remains dry and… pic.twitter.com/6IUKYnwHBW— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 13, 2025
These protests, spanning different regions, ethnicities, and economic sectors, are not disparate cries of grievance but interconnected fronts in a nationwide uprising. Whether on an oil rig, a farm, or a blockaded border road, the target is a system of institutionalized corruption, with the IRGC at its center, that prioritizes its own survival over the well-being of the Iranian people. The regime’s only answers—intimidation, deception, and neglect—are proving insufficient to quell the popular anger. The breadth and coordination of these actions signal a population that is no longer asking for reform but is actively demanding regime change.