On May 28, 2025, a powerful new wave of defiance swept across Iran as citizens from various professions rose up against the regime’s deep-rooted corruption and destructive economic policies. At the heart of this movement, tens of thousands of truck drivers entered the seventh consecutive day of a nationwide strike, highlighting a country in crisis.
Truckers Lead the Charge
In cities like Ahvaz, Malayer, and Ilam, truck drivers rallied for fair pay, reduced fuel prices, and relief from skyrocketing costs of spare parts and tires. Roads near Isfahan’s International Exhibition and routes through Sarpol-e Zahab and Kermanshah stood empty, their silence a testament to the strike’s growing strength.
May 28—Malayer, western Iran
Truck drivers rally in the Resalat parking lot as they continue strikes and protests for 7th consecutive day, calling for fair commission rates, reduction in prices of spare parts, tires, and crucially, fuel.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/26MDWqX3Hh— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 28, 2025
In Bandar Anzali, drivers exposed ongoing injustices—ineffective mandatory insurance, inadequate fuel subsidies, and unaffordable tire prices. The protest reached critical industrial zones, including the Abadan refinery, where truckers joined in. In Neyshabur, pickup truck drivers also joined the strike, disrupting freight transport across more than 130 cities.
Responsible for over 90% of freight movement, these drivers are suffocating under the weight of inflation, high market fuel prices, and unfair policies. Their income no longer covers basic expenses. For many, this is a struggle for survival.
May 28—Neyshabur, northeast Iran
Pickup truck drivers join the broader national protests and strikes by truckers, affecting 135 cities, where no goods are being transported due to the strike.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/yu9hvhYrhp— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 28, 2025
Solidarity Spreads Across Iran
The strike’s message echoed across other sectors. In Nikshahr, southeast Iran, highway construction workers walked off the job over two months of unpaid wages. Their absence from the Chabahar-Iranshahr project signals the depth of economic frustration.
In Ahvaz, thousands of wheat farmers protested the regime’s failure to pay for wheat deliveries—promised within 48 hours, now delayed over 48 days. The delay threatens farmers’ livelihoods and national food security.
May 28—Ahvaz, southwest Iran
protest by thousands of wheat farmers in Khuzestan, Iran, against the government's failure to pay for their delivered wheat within the promised "48-hour timeframe, which has now extended to 48 days."#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/0T8RdikY2h— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 28, 2025
In Bushehr, southern Iran, fishermen and boat operators demonstrated against restrictions on traditional fishing and trade rights. One protester declared, “We’ve lived with the sea our whole lives—now they want to take our bread from us.”
In Qom, bakers continued protests against sudden insurance hikes, high flour prices, and fixed bread rates that are erasing profits and threatening closures.
Repression Fails to Silence Voices
The regime responded with familiar brutality. On May 27, Shahab Darabi, a truck driver and blogger from Eslamabad-e Gharb, was violently arrested for supporting the strike online. This act mirrors the regime’s larger pattern of threats, arrests, and hollow promises aimed at breaking resistance.
May 27—Eslamabad-e Gharb, western Iran
Shahab Darabi, a truck driver and blogger, was violently arrested by security forces for supporting the nationwide truck drivers' strike against the Iranian regime's economic policies.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/uP6yvGqx6A— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 28, 2025
But intimidation is failing. Iran’s working class—truckers, farmers, fishermen, and laborershas drawn a line. United in their demands for justice and dignity, their collective defiance signals a nation unwilling to suffer in silence any longer.
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI (Twitter & Facebook), and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTu
