A firestorm of protest swept across Iran on November 2nd and 3rd, 2025, uniting diverse segments of society in a powerful display of public fury against the clerical regime’s systemic corruption and catastrophic mismanagement. From retired telecommunication workers in at least 18 cities to nurses, students, farmers, and drivers, Iranians from all walks of life took to the streets, their grievances converging into a single, undeniable message: the regime has failed, and the people’s patience is exhausted.
These are not isolated flare-ups of discontent but a coordinated, nationwide movement, revealing deep cracks in the regime’s authority and underscoring a society pushed to its absolute limit by economic ruin and institutional decay.
Retirees Target the IRGC’s Financial Empire
The most extensive and politically charged demonstrations were led by retired telecommunication workers. In a coordinated action on November 3rd, they held protests in at least 18 cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Ahvaz, and Mashhad. These retirees, who dedicated their lives to building the nation’s infrastructure, are now forced to protest for their basic pensions, which have been plundered by regime-controlled entities.
November 3—Zanjan, northwest Iran
Retirees of the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) rallied against systemic corruption, mismanagement, and injustice by regime-linked shareholders.
Chant: “They looted the wealth, they trampled our rights!”#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Nqwts23kQP— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 3, 2025
The protesters are explicitly naming the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation and the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (Setad Ejraei)—two of the Supreme Leader’s key financial conglomerates—as the sources of their misery. In Isfahan, their chants echoed through the streets: “We built the telecom, the IRGC took it, we lost!” In Tehran, another slogan cut through the official propaganda: “Hussein, Hussein is their slogan; theft and plunder is their job!” This direct confrontation with the regime’s most powerful and feared institutions marks a significant escalation in the protesters’ boldness.
A Regime That Cannot Feed Its People
The regime’s failure is so profound that it can no longer provide the most basic necessities, responding to legitimate demands not with solutions, but with threats. On November 2nd, nursing students in Izeh protested the spoiled and inedible food served in their cafeteria by lining up their food trays from the cafeteria to the office of the head of the health network. They reported finding stones, hair, and rotten ingredients in their meals for over a year. A day later, engineering students in Eslamabad-Gharb held a similar protest. In both cases, the authorities’ response was to threaten the students with expulsion and disciplinary action.
November 3—Kermanshah, western Iran
Nurses gathered outside Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences to protest unpaid benefits, corruption, and mismanagement. They demanded fair compensation and dignity for their work.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/1QwZuSnh2i— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 3, 2025
This callous neglect extends to the nation’s frontline healthcare workers. In Kermanshah, nurses and medical staff gathered outside the University of Medical Sciences on November 3rd to protest not having received their salaries and benefits for an entire year. Their chants were a direct indictment of the corrupt system: “Nurse, shout out, scream for your rights! We will not forgive corruption and injustice!”
Producers and Workers Revolt
Iran’s productive sectors are grinding to a halt, forcing producers and workers into open revolt. In Isfahan, poultry farmers issued an ultimatum to the government, threatening to halt all chicken sales if they do not receive critical animal feed supplies. In Sanandaj, taxi drivers went on a general strike, protesting stagnant fares that have been dwarfed by the skyrocketing costs of fuel and spare parts. Meanwhile, farmers in Ramhormoz protested outside the district governor’s office, demanding access to water for their parched lands and payment of insurance claims for their failed crops.
November 3—Ramhormoz, southwest Iran
Farmers in Soltanabad rallied outside the district office, protesting lack of irrigation water and unpaid insurance compensation for crop losses, jeopardizing their livelihoods.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/J7OiVCbNQB— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 3, 2025
The widespread corruption is also felt at the local level. In Kermanshah, victims of a massive land fraud scheme gathered to protest. A cooperative has sold land initially allocated for fewer than 200 people to over 1,000 buyers, yet the manager responsible remains free and continues his fraudulent activities with impunity.
Data Shows a Nation in Freefall
These protests are the human consequence of a full-blown economic collapse, confirmed by staggering official and semi-official data. Economic experts inside Iran warn that the annual inflation rate will definitely exceed 50% by the end of the year. The crisis has eviscerated the purchasing power of ordinary Iranians. According to the Statistical Center of Iran, approximately 70% of a four-person family’s income is now spent on food alone, leaving little for rent, education, or healthcare.
November 3—Hamedan, western Iran
Retirees of the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) gathered at TCI headquarters to protest systemic corruption, mismanagement, and injustice by regime-linked shareholders. They demanded their long-denied basic rights/pensions.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/rrHMEXJwS8— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) November 3, 2025
As a result, staples like meat and access to medical services are disappearing from the budgets of most households. One member of the regime’s parliament issued a grim warning: if current trends continue, the price of chicken could soon reach 500,000 tomans per kilogram, and meat could hit 2 million tomans per kilogram. This economic reality is not an accident; it is the direct outcome of the regime’s policy of systemic plunder to fund its repressive apparatus and foreign adventurism.
The events of early November 2025 are a clear indictment of a corrupt and illegitimate regime that has proven itself incapable of governing. When a state cannot provide safe food for its students, pay the salaries of its nurses, or protect the pensions of its retirees, it has lost its fundamental reason to exist. The bravery of protesters who now openly chant against the IRGC and the Supreme Leader’s corrupt foundations shows that the wall of fear is crumbling. These are not isolated demands for economic relief; they are a collective roar for fundamental change. The question is no longer if the Iranian regime will face a major popular uprising, but when.