Iran sees retiree and worker protests over inflation, corruption

In late July 2026, coordinated demonstrations swept many Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Bijar, Tabriz, Arak, Ahvaz and Shush. Retirees, workers, housing applicants, students and bakers protested rising inflation, shrinking pensions, unaffordable housing, and what they described as systematic corruption and the seizure of public assets by entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Protesters condemned the takeover of telecommunications by the Headquarters for Executing Imam Khomeini’s Order and the Mobin Trust Consortium, demanded free healthcare, the release of detained labor and civil activists, and an end to war‑related policies. A strike at the Tabriz Machine Manufacturing Foundry highlighted labor grievances, while sit‑ins by applicants to the National Housing Movement in Arak called for the delivery of promised homes. Slogans such as “Our salaries are in rials, our expenses are in dollars” and “Against war and death sentences” captured the breadth of economic and political discontent.