On Tuesday, December 2, 2025, a wave of dissent swept across Iran, manifesting in a diverse array of protests ranging from human rights campaigns in major metropolises to labor strikes in industrial hubs and road blockades in neglected rural provinces. While the regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei continues to rely on capital punishment and suppression to maintain control, the events of this Tuesday highlight a population that is increasingly fearless and unified in its grievances.
“No to Execution Tuesdays”: A National Defiance
The most politically charged of these movements was the continuation and expansion of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign. On December 2, citizens in dozens of cities—including Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Rasht—took to the streets to protest the judiciary’s accelerating use of the death penalty.
What began as a prison-based movement has spilled into the streets, with families of political prisoners and victims of the regime leading the charge. Protesters held photographs of their loved ones, chanting slogans that directly challenged the legitimacy of the state’s punitive measures. Chants of “No to execution,” “No prison, no exile, no execution,” and “Death to the dictator executioner” were reported across various locations.
December 2—Iran
In the nationwide "No to Executions Tuesdays" campaign, citizens in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz and other cities rally to reject death sentences, chanting "No to executing anyone" and "Stop the executions."#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/4PukYRC9DR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 2, 2025
The protesters specifically highlighted the cases of political prisoners currently at risk, including Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani, Babak Alipour, and Ehsan Faridi. One prominent slogan, “Execution is the regime’s tool for survival,” encapsulates the public sentiment that the death penalty is being used not for justice, but as a political instrument to stifle dissent. The consistent weekly turnout—despite heavy security risks—signals that the public is no longer willing to accept the “death-centric” policies of the clerical dictatorship.
Industrial and Professional Strikes
While political demands echoed in the city squares, declining economic conditions drove workers and professionals to cease operations in other parts of the country.
In Shush, Khuzestan province, workers at the Middle East Sugar Company entered their fourth consecutive day of strikes. The workers rallied to demand the implementation of the Labor Commission’s approvals regarding their pay and conditions. Holding handwritten placards, they declared they would not return to work until they received concrete guarantees, stating that while they do not wish to disrupt production, their livelihoods can no longer sustain the status quo.
December 2—Shush, southwest Iran
On the fourth day of their strike, workers at Middle East Sugar Co. demand full implementation of labor commission resolutions and rapid action on job grievances, saying protests will continue until guarantees are given.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/EQ4IBNSNlu— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 2, 2025
Simultaneously, in the northern city of Rasht, the crisis in Iran’s healthcare infrastructure was laid bare as pharmacists gathered in front of the Social Security Medical Documents building. The protest was sparked by long delays in payments from insurance organizations and crippling economic policies that have made operating pharmacies increasingly untenable. The pharmacists warned that the financial bottleneck is reducing their ability to provide essential services to patients, further straining a public already suffering from high costs of living.
Infrastructure Collapse and “The Road of Death”
In a visceral display of anger over crumbling infrastructure, residents of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province blocked the Ghaleh-Raisi to Dehdasht road on December 1. The road, notorious among locals as the “Road of Death,” lacks basic safety features such as guardrails or warning signs, leading to frequent fatal accidents in the mountainous terrain.
December 1—Dehdasht, southwest Iran
Youth in Charusa blocked the Qaaleh Raisi–Dehdasht road, protesting the “road of death” with no guardrails or signs and deadly crashes, demanding urgent safety works. “How long must we deliver corpses?” they ask.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/k766mTSA4k— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 2, 2025
Frustrated by years of inaction, young residents blocked the route, confronting the local district manager directly. The atmosphere was tense, with protesters shouting, “How long must we give corpses? Why do you do nothing until a tragedy happens?” One resident described the route as a place where youth “perish one by one” due to deep valleys and dangerous curves left unsecured by the authorities. In a poignant statement of defiance, the protesters declared that remaining silent in the face of such negligence is “complicity with the oppressors,” framing their demand for safe roads as a “human and divine duty.”
University Students Join the Fray
The unrest also reached the academic sector on December 2. At the Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, students staged a sit-in and launched a hunger strike to protest the inedible quality of food at the university cafeteria.
December 2—Babol, north Iran
Students at Noshiravani University of Technology rallied on campus to protest the extremely poor quality of cafeteria food, demanding basic welfare standards and accountability from administrators.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Lj0bgBiBWi— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 2, 2025
Students reported that despite months of complaints regarding the “disastrous” quality of meals, university officials had ignored them. In response, students gathered in the campus courtyard, refusing to eat. “We won’t eat a single bite until this is resolved,” the students announced, noting the irony that a prestigious industrial university cannot provide basic sustenance for its scholars.
The events of early December 2025 paint a picture of a regime failing on every conceivable front. From the inability to pave safe roads in rural areas to the refusal to pay fair wages in industrial sectors, the clerical establishment’s incompetence is matched only by its brutality. As the “No to Execution” campaign grows in strength alongside these social and economic protests, it becomes clear that the Iranian people view their struggle not as isolated disputes, but as a singular, unified fight against a regime that offers them nothing but poverty and the gallows.