On October 14, 2025, Iran witnessed simultaneous protests by pensioners, teachers, landowners, and human rights activists swept across the country. These demonstrations, coupled with a mass hunger strike inside the notorious Ghezel Hesar Prison, reveal a populace that is not only unbowed by the regime’s brutality but is increasingly unified in its demand for fundamental change. These were not isolated incidents of discontent but interconnected fronts in an organized struggle against a failing theocracy.
The Regime’s Brutality Met with Unprecedented Resistance
The regime’s primary tool of control—execution—faced a powerful, nationwide rebuke as the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign marked its 90th consecutive week. Citizens in dozens of cities, from the capital Tehran to Sanandaj, Mashhad, and Isfahan, took to the streets. Their banners and chants left no room for ambiguity. In one city, a placard warned, “This is the final message: if you execute, there will be an uprising!” Another powerfully stated, “Our screams are stronger than your gallows.”
October 14—Iran
On the 90th week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, families of political prisoners condemned death sentences, demanding the abolition of all executions and the release of political prisoners.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/hmKe5j70SM— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2025
The movement’s moral force was amplified by the prominent role of justice-seeking mothers and the families of political prisoners, who held pictures of their loved ones and demanded their freedom. This sustained, organized campaign has evolved from a protest into a cornerstone of the national uprising, demonstrating a profound societal rejection of state-sanctioned murder.
This cry for life echoed from behind prison walls. On October 13, inmates in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj began a mass hunger strike after several prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement to await execution. Despite threats from prison authorities, the inmates refused their meals, standing in solidarity against the regime’s killing machine. The protest demonstrates that even in the regime’s darkest dungeons, the spirit of resistance burns bright.
Economic Collapse Fuels Public Rage
In Kermanshah, the consequences of the regime’s systemic corruption were on full display as outraged pensioners from different sectors protested in front of the retirement fund building. Their chants were a direct indictment of the entire ruling establishment: “They looted our fund, made us destitute!” and “No parliament, no government—they don’t care about the nation!” The protest received widespread public support, with passing drivers honking their horns and flashing victory signs in solidarity—a clear sign that the pensioners’ grievances resonate across society.
October 14—Kermanshah, western Iran
Retirees gathered in front of the Pension Fund, protesting low pensions, economic hardship, and government neglect.
Protesters chanted, “Livelihood, dignity, our inalienable rights!”#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/30pdZmiGbb— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2025
They protested a staggering 15 years of bureaucratic corruption and deceit over land ownership rights. For over a decade, officials have met their pleas with empty promises, while dozens of the original landowners have passed away without ever seeing justice. This case is a potent example of a system that has replaced governance with plunder.
The economic despair was also voiced in Tehran, where literacy movement teachers protested outside the Ministry of Education over years of unfulfilled promises, highlighting how the regime has failed every sector of Iranian society.
The events of October 14 lay bare the reality of Iran today: a regime besieged by a crisis of its own making, facing a nation that refuses to be silenced. The slogans chanted across the country reveal a shared understanding of the problem. From the pensioners shouting, “Poverty, corruption, inflation are the plague of the people,” to their call for unity—“Our pain is your pain, people join us!”—a single, powerful message emerges.
October 14—Tehran, Iran
Teachers and staff of the Literacy Movement Organization rallied outside the Ministry of Education, protesting years of broken promises, job insecurity, and lack of transparency by officials.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/KyqZlgViS9— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 14, 2025
The Iranian people are no longer making siloed demands for economic relief or social reform. They are explicitly identifying the entire clerical regime as the source of their suffering and demanding its removal. The convergence of protests—from inside prisons to the streets of dozens of cities, uniting diverse segments of the population—manifest the intensity of the struggle for a free and democratic Iran without the despotic rule of the mullahs.