Oil industry contract workers gathered outside Iran’s presidential office in Tehran on Saturday to protest what they said were unfulfilled government promises to eliminate private contractors and secure direct employment with state energy companies.
Workers, who had traveled from oil-producing provinces to the capital, said the administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian had failed to deliver on its commitments to improve their job status and pay. Protesters chanted slogans including, “Enough with the promises – our tables are empty,” as they called for the government to honor pledges made earlier this year.
They cited Pezeshkian’s promises to abolish intermediary contracting firms, convert contract positions into permanent ones, and implement an equal pay system for all workers across the oil ministry’s subsidiaries. “These promises remain only on paper,” protesters said, adding that the result has been “continued discrimination and job insecurity for thousands of experienced workers.”
Workers demand direct employment
The demonstrators urged the government to sign direct contracts with oil workers rather than outsourcing them through third-party companies. They said contract employees, who perform the industry’s core operational work, have been excluded from key benefits and protections enjoyed by officially contracted staff. “The main burden of the oil industry lies on our shoulders, but we are denied fair pay and job security,” they said.
Organizers warned that if their demands are not met by the end of November 2025, they will expand their protests, holding weekly demonstrations outside the presidential office from December onward. They vowed to continue until the government delivers on its pledges to standardize pay and eliminate intermediary contractors.
Broader labor unrest
The Tehran protest followed other recent labor actions across Iran’s energy and industrial sectors. Electricity distribution workers from several provinces, including Ahvaz, joined the oil demonstrators to demand improved job conditions.
Separately, petrochemical workers in Chovar, Ilam province, staged their second protest in a week over low wages and what they described as management indifference to their living conditions. In September, steel workers at the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz also held strikes over unpaid wages and job insecurity.
Workers in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Assaluyeh have likewise pressed for fair pay and formal employment status, showing the persistence of labor unrest across Iran’s key energy hubs.
The sharp rise, officials say, reverses ten years of gradual decline in traffic deaths and reflects the country’s worsening vehicle safety, outdated road networks, and weak enforcement of driving standards.
The figure broke a ten-year record, with fatalities exceeding 20,000 for the first time since 2011, Abbas Masjedi, head of the Legal Medicine Organization, told Dideban Iran.
“Unfortunately, last year, for the first time in ten years, we recorded more than 20,000 deaths caused by traffic accidents,” Masjedi said. “During the previous decade, the figure always stayed below that mark. After the pandemic, travel increased again, and the number of deaths rose as a result,” he said.
Nearly half a million people, Masjedi added, were injured in crashes last year, with 7 to 10 percent suffering permanent disabilities. He described the losses as “a heavy burden on the national healthcare system and public funds,” estimating that the lifetime cost per serious injury could reach 90 billion rials (nearly $90,000).
Road safety analysts attribute the surge not only to driver error but also to systemic failures – notably the poor quality of domestically produced vehicles and long-neglected accident-prone roads. Studies have shown that Iranian-made cars routinely fail crash safety standards, turning even minor collisions into deadly incidents.
Large sections of Iran’s intercity network, particularly the northern and southern corridors, lack basic safety features such as guardrails, lighting, and warning signs, according to the Legal Medicine Organization. Urban centers like Tehran, where traffic density is among the highest in the region, also account for a growing share of fatal accidents.
Preventive spending urged
Masjedi urged authorities to redirect more funding from emergency response to prevention, including upgrading road infrastructure and improving vehicle safety.
“Investment in prevention is worth every rial,” Masjedi said. “If we fix these dangerous points and improve vehicle quality, we can save thousands of lives each year.”
The latest figures highlight the human and economic toll of road accidents in Iran, where transport safety has long lagged behind international standards despite repeated government pledges to reduce fatalities by 10 percent annually.
Meysam Gholami, acting head of the state-run Research Institute of Cyberspace told a national cyber conference that an opinion poll found 2.4% of respondents were “very satisfied” and 17% “somewhat satisfied” with internet in Iran.
By contrast, 41% said they were “not very satisfied” and 38% “not satisfied at all,” with 2% declining to answer, according to remarks carried by Iranian media.
Gholami said about 61% of users reported using free VPNs and circumvention tools. He added that 10% keep VPNs “almost always” on, 53% switch them on for specific tasks, and 14% said they do not use VPNs.
He warned that widespread use of no-cost tools can degrade performance and raise privacy risks.
The official also cited access and usage gaps. Roughly 23% of Iranians aged over 15 -- about 15 million people-- do not use the internet at all, he said.
Average daily screen time in Iran stands at about 7 hours 10 minutes across phones, games and media, compared with a global average of roughly 6 hours, Gholami added, describing the figure as a cultural and public-health concern.
Gholami urged a “data-driven, non-political” approach to digital policy, saying survey results suggest domestic services do not fully meet user needs where VPNs are most frequently switched on.
He also flagged emerging security issues from connected devices in homes, saying some smart appliances can transmit detailed data to manufacturers, and called for stronger privacy safeguards.
Iran’s government has long maintained controls on major foreign platforms and says restrictions are necessary for national security.
