The Iranian regime’s stepped-up use of the death penalty and arrests of union and political activists has not silenced its opponents. In fact, more protests against the brutal dictatorship are taking place. Meanwhile, the U.S. imperialist rulers are stepping up airstrikes and tightening their economic blockade of Iran, worsening the crisis confronting working people.
Hundreds of residents of Babol, in Mazdaran province, gathered Sept. 2 in front of the prison in an attempt to halt the execution of Ali Mirrezaei, a musician who sang in the region’s Tabari language. Mirrezaei was found guilty in connection with a death during a brawl at a café there, northeast of Tehran.
Though the execution was carried out, “this gathering of the people of Babol to save a human life is of great importance,” the Retirees’ Union Group said. “The tradition of protesting and gathering against the death penalty is spreading from city to city and is becoming a movement that increases the cost of execution for the Islamic Republic.
“Execution is an organized state crime and must be abolished for any reason or excuse,” it said.
Dozens of demonstrations by retirees, from the telecommunications and steel industries and schools, have taken place across the country over the last month.
Retirees protesting in Gilan Sept. 6 called for the abolition of the death penalty and the “unconditional release of imprisoned workers,” along with demands for increased pensions and healthcare. They also called for solidarity between “workers, teachers, and soldiers.”
Workers at the Pouya Nakh textile factory in Ilam province protested Sept. 6 outside the provincial governor’s office to demand the factory be reopened. They said that the factory owners announced a “temporary” shutdown in mid-2025, but never reopened, leaving 180 workers without an income.
Workers battered by sanctions, war
Even before the U.S. rulers began their war and imposed an oil blockade on Iran’s ports, working people were paying the price of the capitalist economic crisis, exacerbated by years of U.S. sanctions.
A U.S. airstrike on a telecommunications tower in Kuhestak, on the coast near the Strait of Hormuz, also hit a wedding party at a nearby home of a Baluch fisherman, killing four people and wounding 60. The mostly Sunni Muslim Baluch are one of Iran’s oppressed nationalities and a base of deep opposition to the ruling Shiite-based capitalist regime.
On Sept. 5 the U.S. military destroyed three Iranian oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Tehran’s failed ballistic missile attack on two U.S. Navy vessels. The U.S. military can be heard warning one of the ships on a video, “You have three minutes to clear the crew.”
On Sept. 8 U.S. forces blew up another five Iranian tankers, in retaliation for another failed attack on a U.S. Navy ship.
“No Iranian crude has crossed the blockade” since mid-July, reports the Wall Street Journal. Before the war Iran exported 2 million barrels a day, its main source of hard currency.
Working people are paying the price. Wages are often paid months late. For many workers the monthly income is barely enough to cover just a week’s expenses.
Fight for jobs
Young people demanding jobs for local residents, who demonstrated outside the new Lishtar Refinery in Gachsaran and in front of Debal Khozaie Agro-Industry in Ahvaz, were beaten and fired on by the regime’s thugs Aug. 31.
In Gachsaran youth were protesting discrimination against local applicants, who are mostly from the Luri ethnic group. In Ahvaz the mostly Arab youth chanted, “Employment is our undeniable right,” and “We are hungry and have nothing left to live on.” Arabs are a majority in Khuzestan province, and like the Baluchs and Kurds, an oppressed nationality.
The government-funded Iranian Labour News Agency reported Sept. 7 that “indigenous” youth — a euphemism for “Arabs” — from nearby villages have continued protesting for more than a week. It reported that a high-ranking company official and the governor of Khuzestan met with representatives of the youth on Sept. 6, underscoring the impact their actions are having.
Division in regime over war moves
The increase in protests takes place as opposition to the regime’s provocative war moves grows among working people. Its threats to attack maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz are giving the U.S. rulers a pretext to carry out further airstrikes and to tighten their brutal sanctions.
Opposition to the war is widening factional divisions in the reactionary regime. Former President Hassan Rouhani called for a referendum to allow the people to decide if the war should continue. Let them vote on whether the regime’s “plan is to fight the world’s big power for another 20 years,” he said. If they accept, “good, let’s continue.” If not, he called for ending the war “honorably” in accordance with “the overwhelming majority of the people.”
Rouhani was immediately denounced by members of the regime who oppose any deal with Washington. “The real meaning of Mr. Rouhani’s position is abandoning the defense and surrendering the country to the United States and Israel,” wrote Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, which is funded by the office of Iran’s supreme leader.
In contrast, a coalition of eight organizations issued a statement Sept. 6 saying, “While protesting people in the streets are shouting, ‘enough warmongering; our tables are empty,’ the authorities, instead of responding to the people’s legitimate demands, have chosen to intensify the wartime atmosphere and warmongering.” The statement’s signers included the Organizing Council of Oil Contract Workers’ Protests, the Coordinating Council of Nurses’ Protests, the Council of Retirees of Iran and the Voice of Iranian Women.
The statement notes that the fourth anniversary of the death of Zhina Amini takes place Sept. 16. The death of the young Kurdish woman while she visited Tehran in 2022 followed her arrest by the hated “morality” police. It sparked a nationwide movement against the regime’s mandatory dress code for women, its assaults on political freedoms and its expansionist course abroad.
‘A historic turning point’
“With this historic turning point, nothing ever returned to the way it had been,” the statement notes. For 12 days in December 2025 and January 2026 there was a new substantial eruption of protests. The regime unleashed vicious attacks leaving “thousands dead, displaying utter brutality and ruthlessness.”
“Instead of being intimidated, the mourning dances and acts of defiance by grieving families and by angry people seeking justice” shows that “mourning also became an area of confrontation and resistance.”
The statement calls on all “honorable people” and on organizations to commemorate the anniversary of Amini’s death “as magnificently as possible.”