On Saturday, June 18, Social Security Organization retirees and pensioners took to the streets for the 12th day in a row to protest the regime’s corruption, destructive policies, and refusal to address their unmet demands regarding a long list of economic woes, including low wages and poor living conditions.
Tehran, Ahvaz, Shushtar, Abadan, Bandar Abbas, Zanjan, and other cities have reported protests. Retirees and pensioners have been staging regular protests as their living conditions worsen due to rising inflation, and skyrocketing prices of food staples such as bread, milk, dairy products, eggs, poultry, and cooking oil.
The retirees and Social Security Organization pensioners have previously held weekly rallies, but this is the first time they have gathered for several days in a row. The protests have been going on for nearly two weeks, despite the regime’s heavy security measures.
June 18 – Zanjan, northwest #Iran
Social Security Organization pensioners marching and protesting for higher pensions as skyrocketing prices are making it impossible to make ends meet.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/EsV9tL7Kbr— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 18, 2022
“No nation has seen so much injustice!” chanted pensioners in Tehran. According to a statement issued by the regime’s Labor Council, retirees are entitled to a 38 percent increase in their pensions due to a variety of economic factors, including rising inflation, rial depreciation, and skyrocketing basic goods prices. However, the regime has only approved a 10% increase in pensions so far, which is insufficient to meet the basic needs of retirees.
“Neither the Majlis nor the government is concerned about the people!” In Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, pensioners and retirees were chanting.
Raisi made bold promises to eradicate poverty and improve the country’s economic situation after taking office in August 2021. The economic situation in Iran is worse than it has ever been less than a year into his presidency, and people from all walks of life are protesting across the country.
June 18 – Kuhchenar, south-central #Iran
Shop owners are protesting the nosediving value of Iran's currency, the rial, rising inflation, and skyrocketing prices.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/wvP6atVoZt— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 18, 2022
Simultaneously, the parliament is refusing to pass the necessary legislation to address the retirees’ needs.
The pension fund, which is supposed to pay retirees’ pensions, has been looted on a regular basis by regime institutions and bodies. The regime is facing a growing budget deficit as it continues to spend its wealth on fighting terrorism in the region and pursuing nuclear weapons dreams. It has made up for the budget deficit by raiding the retirement fund, raising taxes, and taking money from the poorest members of society.
At the same time, shopkeepers in several cities’ bazaars continued strike action that began earlier this week. Isfahan, Yazd, Kuhchenar near Kazerun, Nurabad in Fars province in south-central Iran, and other cities have all reported strikes. The shopkeepers are protesting the regime’s tax hike policy as well as the rial’s declining value, which hit a new low this week, trading at over 330,000 to the US dollar.
The regime continues to fund its military and terror apparatus, funneling billions of dollars into the coffers of the Revolutionary Guards and its terrorist proxies in the region, and spending massive amounts on developing and testing ballistic missiles, while pensioners, shop owners, workers, drivers, teachers, and other sectors of society are deprived of their most basic needs.
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