#IranTruckersStrike

Start Date: May 21, 2025
Scope: Now active in 163 cities across Iran

Key Reasons Behind the Strike:

  • Explosion in Bandar Abbas: The tragic deaths of several drivers in a recent explosion have fueled national outrage

  • Call to Action by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi: Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has voiced his strong support for the truck drivers’ movement, praising it as a stand against systemic injustice and authoritarian oppression. His campaign calls for nationwide labor strikes, starting with the transportation sector and has met with remarkable solidarity from workers. Despite the risks of arrest, imprisonment, and state retaliation, many have chosen peaceful defiance, through acts such as displaying the Crown Prince’s picture on their trucks

  • Soaring Economic Pressure: Drivers face worsening conditions due to inflation and declining real income

  • New Tiered Pricing Scheme: Introduced by the government to control driver activity, further slashing already tight profits

  • Insurance Hike: A shocking 75% increase in premiums has made coverage unaffordable for many

  • Delayed Payments: Cargo owners are taking months to pay drivers, pushing many into deep financial hardship

  • Dangerous Roads: Worsening infrastructure and unsafe highways are putting lives at risk daily

  • Maintenance Cost Surge: Prices for tires, engine oil, spare parts, and repairs have skyrocketed, making continued operation unsustainable

Widening Solidarity Movement

  • Minibus drivers have joined the strike alongside truckers, amplifying calls for economic justice

  • Workers from multiple sectors—including bakers, store owners, teachers, retirees, nurses, education workers, oil workers, students, and bazaar merchants—have voiced strong support

  • A growing cross-sector alliance is transforming this strike into a nationwide labor and civil movement

Official Statements of Support Issued By:

  • Iran’s Teachers’ Trade Union Coordination Council

  • Free Union of Iranian Workers

  • Tehran Bus Workers’ Syndicate

  • Joint statement by:

    • Syndicate of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers

    • Retired Workers’ Union of Khuzestan

    • Coordination Committee for Labor Union Formation

  • Fars Teachers’ Trade Association

  • Islamabad-e Gharb Teachers’ Trade Association

  • 32 Iranian Filmmakers, who declared:

    “The rule of incompetence at the helm of the country’s management has led to inefficiency and corruption across economic, cultural, social, and political spheres, grinding the wheels of industry and production to a halt. The people are exhausted by unstable policies and a broken economy that have disrupted their lives.”

  • Student Groups from across Iran, including:

    • Amirkabir University Newsletter

    • Kurdistan Students’ Nationwide Committee

    • Kurdistan University

    • Sanandaj Girls’ Technical College

    • Yazdanpanah Technical College

    • Isfahan University

    • Urmia University of Medical Sciences

    • Tehran University

    • Allameh Tabataba’i University (Tehran)

    • These student organizations issued a joint statement, saying:

    “Today, Iranian truckers stand consciously and responsibly on the front lines of a struggle that represents the demands of the broader public. This strike reflects the pain of a freedom-seeking nation and embodies a collective will for liberation.”

Statement from the Truckers' Union (May 30, 2025):

“This unity and solidarity is the result of your will. We thank all the drivers, teachers, retirees, workers, and freedom-seeking citizens who joined us. Our path is clear, and we will remain steadfast in pursuing it.”

Government Crackdown and Arrests

Despite the peaceful nature of the strike, the Iranian government has responded with repression and mass arrests:

  • 40+ truck drivers arrested to date by security forces

  • Farzad Rezaei — Arrested June 2, 2025, in Divandareh for supporting the strike

  • Alireza Faghfoori — Arrested at home in Behbahan on May 29, 2025; taken to an unknown location

  • Kaveh Moradian, Sediq Mohammadi, Rezgar Moradi — Arrested May 27, 2025, in Sanandaj; issued 1-month detention orders and transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison

  • Zanko Rostami — Arrested May 25, 2025, during a peaceful trucker protest in Dehgolan

  • Ata Aziri — A Kurdish driver arrested May 25, 2025, by Ministry of Intelligence agents; his whereabouts remain unknown

  • Shahab Darabi — Arrested May 24, 2025, in connection with online support for the strike. A previous detainee in February for criticizing Iran's elections

  • Borhan Ahmadi — 34-year-old trucker from Arandan near Sanandaj; arrested May 23, 2025

  • Almas Fallahzadeh, Ali Jabari, Amirhossein (Sami) Zolfaghari, Morteza Mahdi-Karami, Ehsan Gholami, Hamed Barjian, and Asghar Rezaei — All detained May 23, 2025, in Bihar for participating in the strike

🛑 A Turning Point

This wave of arrests marks an escalation in the state’s attempt to suppress dissent and criminalize solidarity among workers. Despite this, public support continues to grow, signaling a major moment in Iran's labor and civil resistance landscape.

Call to Continuation & Expansion of Protests and Strikes from HRH Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, 6/1/2025

Brave truck drivers of Iran, you have been voicing your demands for your basic rights through your ongoing strike for the last ten days. You are the backbone of the Iranian economy, however, for years you’ve been rewarded with nothing but exorbitant costs, high debt, dilapidated trucks, and repression. It is time for this cruelty and injustice to come to an end once and for all.

The Islamic Republic is a corrupt criminal syndicate, which neither has the capability nor the will to address your problems. Their only concern is the retention of their power and the plunder of the national wealth. This regime is the enemy of our financial livelihood, dignity, and freedom. It is the enemy of our Iran! They steal our national wealth and spend it on exporting terrorism and their destructive ideology beyond our borders, and on persecution and cruelty on the inside.

Take a look at their so-called “children of nobility”, a minority of less than 2%, which has taken the lives of the remaining 98% hostage and systematically destroyed their livelihood. By relying on your widespread numbers and logistical power, you honorable truck drivers can be the spark of a great national movement. This time, do not be deceived by hollow promises of the regime. These deceitful criminals are simply waiting for your strike to end so that they can unleash a wave of repression against you.

If you all stand together, including the transportation sector, laborers, teachers, nurses, bakers, farmers, retirees, and merchants, we can put aside this nefarious regime and build a future where no one is deprived of supper, fuel, water, or electricity. I ask the various civilian units in Iran to join the glorious ranks of the unified truck drivers, and to continue the nationwide strikes until the annihilation of this occupying and nefarious regime, so that we may attain a free county, a bright future, with a prosperous and fair economy for all Iranians. We will be victorious if we are one!



Take Action — Support the Strikes

The truckers' strike is more than a labor protest — it is a powerful stand against economic injustice, repression, and authoritarian mismanagement. The voices of Iranian drivers, workers, students, and civil society must not go unheard.

You can help amplify their message.

Send a letter to U.S. lawmakers urging them to publicly support the Iranian strikes and condemn the repression of peaceful protestors.
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Solidarity matters. Your voice can protect theirs!

Become a Volunteer

Your time and talents can make a real difference. Whether you're making phone calls, writing letters, or sharing information online, Your voice matters. Volunteers are the backbone of our movement, and we can't do this without you.

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