Widespread Gatherings and Demonstrations by Retired Steelworkers of Khuzestan and Isfahan and Social Security Retirees in Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Shush, and Rasht

Today, Sunday, January 5, 2025, Social Security retirees in Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Shush, and Rasht staged protests against low wages, inflation, and skyrocketing prices. They chanted slogans such as, “The outcome of the government’s work is the looting of the people’s pockets”; “Our enemy is right here; they lie when they say it’s America”; “Where is inflation control? Stop lying to the people”; “Imprisoned workers must be freed”; “Imprisoned teachers must be freed”; “Let the body perish, let the soul go, but freedom must not be lost”; “Enough with the warmongering; our tables are empty”; “We will fight; we will die; we will reclaim our rights”; “They have plundered Iran and ruined us.”
Simultaneously, retired steelworkers in Khuzestan gathered and marched in front of the Khuzestan Governor’s Office and the Ahvaz Governorate, shouting, “Retiree, cry out! Shout out your rights!” Additionally, workers, retirees, and housing applicants in Ahvaz protested against inflation and marched through the streets.
Retired steelworkers in Isfahan, contract workers from southern oilfields in Ahvaz, 2023 retirees in front of the Bushehr Governor’s Office, and Iran Ofogh workers at the Yadavaran oil field in Khorramshahr protested against low wages and the dire state of their livelihoods.
While Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) plunder the nation’s wealth and the hard-earned resources of the working people to fund their lavish lifestyles or waste them on anti-national nuclear, missile, and warmongering projects, tens of millions of Iranians are left hungry and homeless. The scale of this exploitation is so vast that Ebrahim Zare, a member of the regime’s parliament, stated: “Why are the revenues from the export of petroleum products not deposited directly and transparently into the national treasury’s foreign exchange accounts? Since 2023, 31% of the allocated resources have not been collected. Why? And who controls these resources?” (Ebrahim Zare, regime parliament, December 24, 2024).
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), praised the protesting retirees, workers, and the laboring masses who have taken to the streets. She stated that protesting against uncontrollable inflation, harsh living conditions, and the trampling of the rights of the vast majority of people is a united cry heard across Iran. She emphasized that the only path to reclaiming these rights is through the overthrow of the religious dictatorship by the people and the Resistance, and the establishment of democracy and people’s sovereignty.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
5 January 2025