A Movement for Justice and Basic Rights against the Two Dictatorships of the monarchy of the Shah and the Iranian Mullahs!
On May 21, 2025, a wave of defiance and solidarity swept across Iran as truck drivers from all corners of the country initiated a nationwide strike. The catalyst was not a single event but a culmination of deep-seated grievances: deteriorating economic conditions, years of injustice, and the recent tragic and avoidable deaths of several drivers at Rajaei Port in Bandar Abbas. What began as a protest in one southern city rapidly evolved into a powerful national movement. Major urban centers such as Tabriz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Arak, and Ilam soon joined the strike, creating an unprecedented halt in freight transportation across the nation.
By parking their trucks and gathering en masse at cargo terminals, these drivers are refusing to carry the burden of a broken system any longer. Their unified slogan – “Until our demands are met, we will not move” – reverberates not just through transportation hubs, but through the conscience of a country.
The demands of the strikers are clear, just, and reflect their basic human and professional rights:
- Fair and sustainable freight ratesthat reflect inflation, cost of living, and operational expenses.
- Reliable and sufficient fuel supplies, without which drivers cannot work, and a system that curbs the black-market corruption.
- Access to affordable spare parts, many of which are either overpriced or unavailable due to sanctions, mismanagement, and monopolies.
- Reasonable insurance policiesthat protect drivers and their families, rather than exploit them.
- Serious government commitment to workplace safety, especially in high-risk environments like ports and highways.
- An end to systematic state violence, repression, and intimidationof drivers and workers exercising their rights to protest.
Instead of addressing these legitimate concerns through dialogue or reform, the Iranian regime has once again resorted to familiar tactics: intimidation, surveillance, deployment of security forces, and threats of arrest and prosecution. These are the same repressive measures used during earlier trucker strikes in 2018 and 2022, when hundreds were detained for daring to speak out.
But this time, the situation feels different. This strike is not merely a labor dispute over wages or working conditions. It is a moral stand – a cry for justice, dignity, and recognition in a country where the working class has long been exploited and marginalized. The movement is tapping into a broader wave of discontent sweeping across Iran, uniting workers, students, women, and civil society under a common banner of resistance.
Truck drivers, often overlooked in the broader political discourse, have emerged as unexpected heroes. They are the backbone of Iran’s economy – transporting goods, sustaining supply chains, and connecting the nation’s remote corners. Yet, they are treated with contempt and neglect by those in power.
Voices from Iran’s democratic opposition have expressed unwavering support for the strike. These leaders have called the drivers “courageous and honorable workers” who are not only defending their rights, but also honoring the memory of those who perished in preventable tragedies like the one in Bandar Abbas. Their actions embody the ideals of freedom, resistance, and social justice in a country where such values are routinely suppressed.
Beyond Iran’s borders, this movement deserves attention. International labor unions, human rights organizations, and the United Nations must listen to this collective plea. Solidarity from the global community can offer protection, moral support, and amplification to a movement that risks brutal retaliation from a regime known for its intolerance of dissent.
In a landscape defined by fear, corruption, and repression, the truck drivers’ strike is a rare and courageous act of defiance. It signals a rising tide of resistance – one that comes not from political elites or foreign agendas, but from the hardworking hands that keep Iran moving.
Given all the above, Iranian Truck Drivers who have long suffered under both the oppressive monarchy of the Shah and now under the dictatorship of the Iranian regime and the fundamentalist rule of the mullahs—are in urgent need of support from international Truck Drivers unions, syndicates, and Truck Drivers-related organizations.
It is a strike for survival. A strike for justice. And above all, a strike for dignity.
Mehrdad Momeni
