By Pishtaz | 2026-06-15

The Islamic Republic has been using wartime conditions since late February to intensify repression through mass arrests, political executions, and harsh prison sentences, across Iran.

Amnesty International reported on May 28, the arbitrary arrest of at least 6,000 people, including journalists, lawyers, protesters, and ethnic minorities.

This crackdown is marked by expedited, unfair judicial proceedings and at least 39 politically motivated executions since the US-Israeli conflict began.

Experts warn the regime is exploiting the war crisis to drastically expand its domestic repression apparatus.

Simultaneously, a potent wave of popular economic protests is surging throughout Iranian cities among key professional sectors.

Retirees, medical staff, and workers are protesting against deeply deteriorating living conditions and accumulated unpaid wages.

Demands-based activism now powerfully drives Iran's public sphere, fiercely mirroring the initial, pivotal 2025 uprising.

Municipal workers and Social Security retirees held protests in Shush, in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, on May 31 over unpaid wages and worsening living conditions.

Municipal workers are owed two months' wages and months of neglected insurance contributions, fueling discontent.

Amid intense Khuzestan heat, retirees protested low pensions, poverty, and lack of medical and welfare services.

On May 30, Yazd nurses protested overdue payments outside the Governor-General’s Office after six months of being ignored.

The protesting nurses urgently demanded service tariff payments, which had been repeatedly withheld for nearly half a year.

Banners specifically denounced mandatory overtime and powerfully asserted the fundamental need to respect nurses' rights.

These simultaneous protests are viewed by analysts as fundamentally political, reflecting the uprising's demand for the Islamic Republic's total overthrow.