Over the past three months, Iran has experienced a sustained wave of labor and social protests that reflect deep and unresolved violations of economic and social rights. Based on aggregated reporting from independent human rights organizations and media sources, at least 644 protest actions were documented nationwide, including 601 public gatherings and 43 strikes. These actions involved workers across key industries, retirees, teachers, nurses, and other professional groups. On average, more than seven protest actions occurred per day, underscoring that collective dissent has become a routine response to chronic deprivation rather than a reaction to isolated events.
The protests were primarily driven by unpaid or delayed wages, precarious employment under multi-layered contracting systems, inadequate pensions, excessive workloads, and the steady erosion of access to basic services such as healthcare and education. While public gatherings initially outnumbered strikes—reflecting attempts to seek redress through less risky means—December marked a clear shift toward strikes, signaling growing frustration with the absence of meaningful government response and the exhaustion of repetitive, peaceful protest as an effective tool.
Unrest spanned critical sectors, including oil, gas, petrochemicals, steel, agriculture, construction, education, and healthcare, as well as nationwide networks of retirees. Protests by contract workers in energy and infrastructure projects—sectors central to state revenue—were particularly significant, exposing deep failures in economic governance and the systematic transfer of risk onto workers. Retirees emerged as one of the most consistent protest groups, mobilizing regularly over pensions that fall well below the poverty line and ineffective health insurance coverage. Teachers and nurses organized localized actions over wages, staffing shortages, and unfulfilled policy commitments, frequently under threat of administrative retaliation or security interference. In late September, teachers’ union representatives attempting to hold their annual in-person congress in Shahreza (Isfahan) were briefly detained, the meeting was shut down, and participants were released hours later.
Across sectors, reports point to intimidation, prevention of assemblies, and disciplinary measures against protest organizers, further undermining the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. Due to media censorship, the securitization of workplaces, and the absence of independent monitoring mechanisms, these figures represent minimum verified counts, with the true scale of social unrest likely far greater.
These developments reflect a broader human rights crisis rooted in the denial of the right to a dignified life—a right that includes fair and timely wages, social security, access to healthcare and education, and the ability to organize peacefully in defense of these basic needs.
The Iranian government bears primary responsibility for systemic mismanagement, lack of transparency, and entrenched corruption, which have weakened labor protections, normalized wage arrears, and hollowed out social safety nets. At the same time, U.S. sanctions have played a significant and harmful role in deepening this crisis. Broad-based economic sanctions have directly contributed to rising inflation, widespread unemployment, and declining purchasing power, placing an overwhelming burden on ordinary Iranians while failing to meaningfully constrain those responsible for repression and corruption. Sanctions that restrict access to trade, banking, and essential goods have effectively punished the Iranian population, exacerbating poverty and social instability.
NIAC condemns the Iranian government’s ongoing failure to uphold fundamental economic and social rights and its repression of peaceful labor and social protest. NIAC also condemns sanctions by the U.S. that collectively punish the Iranian people and urges the U.S. to pursue policies that alleviate, rather than intensify, humanitarian suffering. Upholding the right to a good and dignified life for the people of Iran requires accountability and reform within Iran, as well as an immediate shift in U.S. policy away from economic coercion and toward measures that respect human rights and human well-being.
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