{"id":348567,"date":"2026-10-04T21:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=348567"},"modified":"2026-10-04T21:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:40:34","slug":"retiree-protests-in-iran-spread-as-dollar-hits-271000-nursing-crisis-deepens-and-oil-minister-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/retiree-protests-in-iran-spread-as-dollar-hits-271000-nursing-crisis-deepens-and-oil-minister-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Retiree Protests in Iran Spread as Dollar Hits 271,000, Nursing Crisis Deepens and Oil Minister Resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A quiet current of daily life moves through the vaulted corridors of an old covered bazaar in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four-minute read<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A new round of protests spread across Iran on October 4, 2026, with retirees taking to the streets<\/a> in Kermanshah, Rasht, Ahvaz, Shush and Isfahan while students in Tehran staged a sit-in against disciplinary punishments. The demonstrations came as the dollar reached another record, the nursing system showed signs of accelerating personnel loss, energy officials warned of winter blackouts, and the government abruptly changed leadership at the Oil Ministry.<\/p>\n

In Kermanshah, Social Security retirees combined livelihood demands with explicitly political slogans, including \u201cPolitical prisoners must be freed,\u201d \u201cWe want neither war nor killing; we want lasting welfare,\u201d and \u201cStreet, street\u2014the stronghold of workers.\u201d In Ahvaz, demonstrators chanted that government promises were enough because \u201cour tables are empty,\u201d while demanding the release of imprisoned workers, teachers and protesters. In Shush, retirees marched over inflation, inadequate pensions, medical costs and restrictions on independent labor organization. Steel and Isfahan Steel retirees meanwhile chanted: \u201cOur enemy is right here; they lie that it is America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The significance is not simply another pension protest. The slogans increasingly reject attempts to explain deteriorating living standards through external confrontation and instead assign responsibility directly to institutions inside the country.<\/p>\n

Universities Return to the Front Line<\/h2>\n

At Tehran\u2019s Khajeh Nasir University, students staged a sit-in inside the mathematics faculty to protest disciplinary rulings and suspensions. Student sources say three students have each received two-semester suspensions, while the broader university crackdown now extends to Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, where ten students have reportedly faced punishments connected to the 2025\u201326 protests<\/a>, including a combined 16\u00bd years of educational suspension for eight students and expulsion for another.<\/p>\n

\n

Iran\u2019s dollar hit 268,500 tomans despite fresh Central Bank intervention.<\/p>\n

A senior MP says people are dying because #medicine<\/a> and treatment are unaffordable, alleges insurers are effectively bankrupt, and says $100 billion in trustee funds has not returned.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, gas\u2026<\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n