Following the deteriorating conditions of the farming industry in Isfahan province in Iran and continued water shortages, a number of farmers protested outside the headquarters of the water company on November 8 due to the Iranian regime’s lack of response to solve the issues faced by people in the agricultural industry.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) said, “The regime’s policies and destructive projects, including the building of dams without regard to the province’s ecosystem, has resulted in severe ecological problems.”
The farmers also marched across the city of Isfahan to demand their fair share of water from the nearby Zayandeh-rud River. Many rivers in Iran have been rerouted by the regime, or had dams built for the regime’s own purposes, depriving much of society from accessing much needed resources.
Demonstrations took place in Isfahan on Sunday also, and in Khuzestan, as retired steel workers took to the streets to protest the regime’s disregard for their economic issues and deteriorating living conditions. These protests are the latest in a regular bout of demonstrations across a number of cities across Iran.
The insufficient pensions that the retirees receive are barely enough to cover even the most basic of expenses, and the payments are often delayed for several months, leaving people to fall below the poverty line as they struggle to survive. Despite the continuous protests, regime officials have yet to address the demands of the pensioners.
The MEK said, “The decline in Iran’s economy, spurred by government corruption and destructive policies, has plunged the lives of many pensioners and retired government workers into utter poverty.”
Iran’s national currency, the rial, has crashed dramatically in the past few years and lost more than 80% of its value. As a result, the prices of basic goods have skyrocketed but people’s salaries and pensions have not been adjusted to match the skyrocketing prices. This had led to hundreds of thousands of people living way below the poverty line as they struggle to provide for themselves and their families.
A further protest took place on Sunday, November 7, in Tabriz. This rally was organized by the workers of the Iran Khodro auto manufacturer, who went on strike following several months of not being paid their salaries by the company. Even without the delays in payment, the base amount in their wage packets hasn’t changed over the past few years despite the rising inflation levels in Iran, leaving workers severely underpaid.
The MEK said, “In the past two years, the prices of vehicles have increased fivefold, but the salaries of the workers have not changed, the protesters say.”
Months after the CEO of Cryptoland, one of Iran’s biggest digital currency exchanges, was arrested on embezzlement charges, a large number of the company’s account holders took to the streets in Tehran recently. A rally was held outside the headquarters of the regime’s judiciary as the protesters demanded the return of their money.
Following the CEO’s arrest in May, the website was shut down and around 70,000 users have been locked out of their accounts and left with no way of accessing their funds. Despite protesting for months, the account holders are yet to receive a response from authorities as to whether they will be able to reclaim their money back.
