A fresh wave of dissent swept across Iran this weekend as the gap between the clerical regime’s plunder of national wealth and the public’s economic desperation widened. Over the past 48 hours, a diverse array of Iranian society—including emergency responders, mine workers, retirees, and defrauded investors—staged protests in multiple cities. While the protesters demanded basic rights and unpaid wages, reports from inside Iran indicate the regime has ramped up its suppression, utilizing tactics ranging from punitive job suspensions to lethal force against the impoverished.
The Collapse of Healthcare: “The Knife Has Reached the Bone”
On Saturday, November 22, personnel from Tehran’s Emergency Services gathered outside the Ministry of Health to protest exhausting working conditions and unfulfilled promises. Using the Persian idiom that “the knife has reached the bone,” indicating absolute desperation, the protesters highlighted a systematic failure by the government to support front-line workers.
November 21—Tehran, Iran
Tehran Emergency Medical personnel rallied at the Health Ministry after months of neglect, decrying unequal pay, unpaid benefits, punitive transfers, delayed wages, and the refusal to recognize their harsh working conditions.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Xaaragwmk8— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 22, 2025
Despite months of pressure, the demonstrators reported that the law regarding service tariffs remains unimplemented and performance bonuses are unpaid. Instead of addressing these financial grievances, the regime’s management has resorted to punitive measures. Staff members report being forcibly transferred to bases far from their homes as a form of retribution.
This crackdown is part of a broader trend of intimidation against healthcare workers. On November 22, the state-run ILNA news agency admitted that the regime is suppressing nursing protests through “punishment rather than hearing their voices.” The report acknowledged that nurses, already suffering from severe staffing shortages and delayed wages, are facing “exile,” long-term suspensions, and detention for organizing rallies. The Secretary of the House of Nurses confirmed that security bodies have created a “state of suspension,” effectively barring vocal nurses from work rather than addressing their demands.
Exploitation in the Industrial Sector
Simultaneous with the healthcare protests, the industrial and pension sectors witnessed significant unrest. On the morning of November 23, native workers at the Kahnuj Titanium Complex in Kerman province went on strike. The workers pointed to a glaring contradiction in the regime’s management: while officials boasted that production at the mine had multiplied over recent years, wages have remained stagnant. “Production has increased several times over, but our salaries remain fixed,” the workers stated, exposing the exploitation of labor to fund the regime’s priorities elsewhere.
November 23—Kahnuj, southeast Iran
Local workers at the Kahnuj Titanium Industrial & Mining Complex launched a strike, protesting low wages and broken promises. Despite major production increases, their pay has stayed frozen. Workers demand fair salaries and benefits.… pic.twitter.com/mqryBLWxYC— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 23, 2025
Meanwhile, retirees from the Social Security Organization and the steel industry took to the streets in Tehran, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shush, and Rasht. In Tehran, protesters braved severe air pollution to gather outside the Social Security Organization. In Isfahan, steel retirees rallied outside the governor’s office, chanting that they would not leave the streets until their rights were restored.
The retirees’ grievances center on the looting of pension funds. They protested the illegal transfer of the Steel Pension Fund to the Civil Servants Pension Fund and the sudden cessation of supplementary insurance, which has left thousands of elderly Iranians without medical coverage. In Ahvaz, the crowds chanted, “High prices and inflation are killing the people,” a direct indictment of the economic mismanagement under the current administration.
State-Backed Fraud and Lethal Force
The corruption endemic to the regime was further highlighted in Kerman on November 22, where victims of the Modiran Khodro dealership scam gathered to demand their money back. Protesters revealed that while the dealership’s sales division had officially closed in January 2025, agents continued to sell car allotments to over 90 people, taking their money for vehicles that did not exist.
November 22—Kerman, southeast Iran
Dozens defrauded by a Modiran Khodro dealership protested after paying for non-existent vehicle vouchers. They say the branch kept selling “limited” vouchers despite sales being officially closed, leaving 90+ buyers with losses.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Jd2YVZOziI— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 23, 2025
While financial corruption destroys livelihoods in the cities, the regime’s security forces continue to destroy lives in the periphery. Reports from Baluchistan confirmed that on November 18 and November 20, police forces opened fire on fuel porters (soukht-bars), who are forced into the dangerous trade due to extreme poverty.
On November 18, security forces in Bandar Abbas shot and killed a fuel porter directly. Two days later, on November 20, police fire caused a fuel vehicle to overturn, killing the driver instantly. These extrajudicial killings highlight the regime’s resolve to answer economic despair with lethal violence.
As November 2025 draws to a close, the scope of these protests—spanning from the capital to the border regions—demonstrates that the Iranian people view the regime not as a governing body, but as the primary obstacle to their survival. Whether it is the nurse exiled for speaking out, the retiree denied medicine, or the worker denied fair wages, the message from the streets is unified: the regime offers only plunder and repression, and the people will not be silenced.