Public anger in Iran continues to mount following the death of Ahmad Baledi, the 20-year-old student from Ahvaz who set himself on fire after municipal forces demolished his family’s food kiosk. Amid nationwide outrage and fear of renewed street protests, regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered his interior minister to convey condolences to the family and form a “special committee” to investigate the case—a gesture that many Iranians see as a belated attempt to defuse unrest rather than deliver justice.
At Ahmad’s funeral and memorial gatherings this week, grief quickly turned to fury. His father, Mojahed Baledi, shouted before mourners, “We will not take the body, we will not hold a service until the mayor and his aides leave this city!” He warned that unless those responsible were removed, his family would set themselves alight one by one. Within 24 hours, the provincial government announced the resignation of Ahvaz mayor Reza Amini and the dismissal of several senior municipal officials. Local sources confirmed that security forces heavily surrounded the burial site, restricting attendance and traditional mourning rituals to prevent the gatherings from turning into open protest.
Even as officials speak of “investigation and accountability,” residents and activists describe these moves as performative damage control by a regime terrified of another uprising. The government’s response—part arrests, part condolences—reflects a deep fear that Baledi’s self-immolation could become a catalyst for a broader rebellion, reminiscent of Tunisia’s 2010 revolt sparked by the self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi.
Salute to Ahmad Baledi, the brave son of the people of Ahvaz, who lost his life in protest against the inhuman and plundering clerical regime. The newly released reports and videos of his self-immolation have stirred widespread outrage, exposing the deliberate and conscious role…
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 12, 2025
New footage and eyewitness accounts from the night of November 12 show that Ahmad Baledi’s funeral turned into a mass outpouring of grief and defiance. A large crowd of residents and students of Ahvaz joined the procession, chanting against injustice and corruption as they buried the young man “whose protest could not be silenced.” Despite heavy security restrictions, mourners carried his coffin through the streets in a rare act of public defiance.
The outrage in Ahvaz comes amid fresh reports of another self-immolation attempt by a firefighter in Sanandaj protesting unpaid wages, adding to the sense of a country pushed to the brink. In cities across Iran, from Tehran to Khuzestan, despair, unemployment, and official repression continue to drive ordinary citizens to acts of protest that speak of hopelessness and defiance.
For the clerical dictatorship, each tragedy now carries the potential to ignite a volatile society already seething over corruption, poverty, and impunity. As protesters and youth groups in Ahvaz rally in solidarity with the Baledi family, the government’s staged sympathy and committee announcements cannot conceal the systemic cruelty and injustice that made such an act possible—and that may, once again, set Iran on the path toward nationwide revolt.