At least five thousand contract workers in twelve South Pars refineries went on strike and gathered in Asaluyeh in the largest labor protest in recent years. This gathering was held despite pressure and threats against the workers. South Pars is Iran’s largest gas hub and Asaluyeh is a major industrial zone in the south of the country.

The Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers (Third Parties) reported that on Tuesday, December 9, these workers stopped working and, despite various threats, held a “magnificent march on the street leading to the Asaluyeh governor’s office.” This council represents informal and contract workers in the oil sector.

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Similarly, the Free Union of Iranian Workers described this gathering as “one of the largest protest assemblies in the history of Iran’s oil industry over nearly the past five decades.”

While labor sources report the participation of at least five thousand contract workers in the strike and gathering, the state-run ILNA news agency omitted any mention of the number of protesters, and Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), merely wrote that “a group of workers” had taken part. ILNA is a government-controlled labor news outlet, and Fars is a major IRGC-linked propaganda agency.

The Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers stated that one day before the gathering, extensive efforts were made to intimidate workers, including “direct messages from the South Pars Gas Complex public relations office sent to workers’ phones” and “direct threats from the security units of various refineries” warning them about the “consequences of attending.”

This point was also omitted in the reports published by ILNA and Fars.

According to the council, from early Tuesday morning, in addition to the South Pars entry points that have been controlled by the Special Zone Security since the twelve-day war, all entrances to Asaluyeh and the streets leading to the governor’s office were placed under the control of Iran’s regime police and security forces. Vehicles carrying workers were blocked from passing.

Despite this, contract workers and their families reached the gathering site on foot through various routes.

According to reports, the contract workers demanded “eliminating intermediary contractors, reforming the wage equalization system, revising and fully implementing the job classification plan, applying the rotation schedule of two weeks of work and two weeks of rest for administrative and support staff, and resolving the status of non-owner drivers of rental vehicles.”

Other demands included “regulating the status of safety support workers and enforcing labor law according to workplace norms, payment of camp allowance, and providing flight transportation conditions for workers.”

The council added that after the gathering ended, some security units prevented workers from entering the refineries, and several workers were summoned by the Special Zone Security and other regime security agencies.

Contract workers in Asaluyeh have repeatedly protested unmet demands. Most recently, on November 11, more than three thousand contract workers in the South Pars Gas Complex gathered in front of its central building in Asaluyeh.

Support of a labor syndicate for the South Pars contract workers’ protest

The Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company announced on Tuesday that it “proudly and responsibly, in line with its class and trade duty,” supports the protest gathering of more than five thousand South Pars contract workers in Asaluyeh.

This independent labor organization, referring to the “clear slogans and completely legitimate and human demands” of the protest, called it “a clear symbol of the awareness, solidarity, and firm resolve of Iran’s working class to obtain its violated rights.”

Three days of strike in North Drilling Company

The Telegram channel “Afkar-e Naft” reported on Tuesday that a “three-day simultaneous strike took place in nine onshore and two offshore rigs of the North Drilling Company.”

The channel listed the workers’ demands as “payment of overdue wages and bonuses, establishment of supplementary insurance, signing official employment contracts, and dozens of other issues.”

According to the report, the main owners of the North Drilling Company are Energy Gostar Sina and the Mostazafan Foundation, a major economic arm of Iran’s regime.

Third day of strike by Shadgan Steel workers

The Free Union of Iranian Workers reported that the strike by Shadgan Steel workers in Khuzestan Province entered its third day on Tuesday.

According to the report, the strike began in protest of the employer’s broken promises regarding production bonuses and job classification.

In recent years, protests by workers and other wage earners in Iran have increased significantly. Causes include low wages, months-long nonpayment of wages and insurance contributions, privatization, layoffs, and the continued presence of intermediary contracting companies.

Iran’s regime has tried to stop the spread of such protests by intensifying security and judicial crackdowns, but due to the country’s severe economic crisis, it has failed to achieve this goal.

Iranian pharmaceutical officials, warning of an escalating medicine shortage crisis, have stated that stocks of hundreds of medicines in the country have fallen to below one to three months. At the same time, the director-general of drugs and controlled substances at the regime’s Food and Drug Organization announced that the country’s pharmaceutical system is in “the worst possible condition” in terms of foreign currency and rial funding.

Akbar Abdollahi-Asl, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting held on Sunday, December 7, with the Association of Pharmaceutical Distribution Companies, said that out of roughly three thousand medicines on the country’s official list, 195 have less than one month of stock, 360 have less than two months, and 270 have less than three months.

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He said this situation could be dangerous, meaning that nearly 800 medicines awaiting the allocation of foreign currency and rial funding are at risk of shortage in the coming months.

He added that among essential hospital medicines, at least 21 items are experiencing shortages, and 56 additional essential non-hospital medicines are also on the shortage list.

The director-general added that strategic medicine reserves are typically maintained during stable periods to prepare for unstable times, but at present, the country’s pharmaceutical system is “in the worst possible condition in terms of currency and rial resources.”

This is not the first time reports have emerged about medicine shortages, liquidity crises, and the failure to secure the foreign currency required for drug imports in Iran.

In one of the latest examples, on December 6, Amin Afshar, head of the Iranian Hemophilia Society, said: “Imports of some vital medicines for hemophilia and coagulation disorder patients have stopped, and for certain items we have now reached the end of emergency reserves.”

On November 26, Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the Food and Drug Organization, also announced that due to currency shortages and disruptions in foreign exchange resources, the supply chain for medicine and infant formula has entered a crisis.

Severe liquidity crisis

Alongside the currency crisis, pharmaceutical industry representatives at the December 7 meeting described a severe liquidity shortage as another factor threatening medicine supply.

Ebrahim Hashemi, chairman of the Board of the Association of Drug and Supplement Distribution Companies, said the entire medicine supply chain is under “extremely difficult financial conditions,” and that outstanding payments owed to distribution companies by the pharmaceutical market had reached about 1.57 quadrillion rials (approximately USD 1.308 billion) by late November.

Hashemi added that pharmacies and distribution companies have not received a significant portion of their payments from insurance organizations and government entities: “More than 310 trillion rials (approximately USD 258.3 million) of these claims relate to medical universities, and the total government debt—including social security, the Red Crescent, and insurance entities—has reached about 470 trillion rials (approximately USD 391.66 million).”

He warned that if these resources are not provided, the production and import of essential medicines will face serious difficulties.

The loss of strategic medicine reserves

Shahram Kalantari, head of the regime’s Pharmacists Association, said about 70% of medicine distribution in the country is carried out by the private sector, but insurance organizations collectively owe nearly 400 trillion rials (approximately USD 333.3 million) to private pharmacies.

He added that every currency fluctuation imposes about 400 to 500 trillion rials (approximately USD 333.3 to 416.6 million) in losses on these pharmacies, and therefore their purchasing power and ability to restock medicines are rapidly diminishing.

According to him, in recent months the shelves and storage rooms of pharmacies have become “emptier,” and strategic medicine reserves are effectively being depleted.

These warnings come amid months of reports pointing to increased pressure on patients due to medicine shortages and soaring drug prices.

On November 16, Ahmad Aryaeinejad, a member of the Health Commission of Iran’s regime parliament, said that due to the high cost of medicine and doctor visits, many low-income individuals are forgoing medical care and medication, and are forced either to live with their illnesses or turn to herbal remedies.

Continuing the upward trend in currency and gold prices in Iran, the price of each U.S. dollar surpassed 1.22 million rials, and the price of the new-design gold coin known as the “Emami” exceeded 1.29 billion rials.

The price of each dollar in Iran’s free market

In recent weeks, an upward wave has swept through Iran’s currency and gold markets, repeatedly setting new records and creating a new path of price increases.

On December 1, the prices of various gold items in domestic markets set new records, and the price of the “Emami” gold coin exceeded 1.26 billion rials.

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Five-thousand-toman gasoline

The rise in currency and gold prices comes as a third-tier gasoline price of 50,000 rials was scheduled to be introduced starting December 6.

Fatemeh Mohajerani, the government spokesperson, wrote on her personal account on X on the evening of December 5: “The exact date for implementing the gasoline price reform plan has not yet been finalized.”

Many citizens have described the introduction of three different gasoline price tiers as contradicting the election promises of Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran’s regime, and as a factor that increases economic pressure on the population.

In recent months, runaway inflation and the rise of foreign exchange rates have added to concerns about the worsening economic situation in Iran. This trend intensified following the return of United Nations sanctions and the insistence of Iran’s regime officials on continuing the nuclear program.

In the past year, food prices in Iran have increased by more than 66% on average.

During this period, bread and grains increased by 100%, fruits and nuts by 108%, vegetables by 69%, beverages by 68.3%, fish and shellfish by 52.3%, and milk, cheese, and eggs by 48.6%.

Worsening economic conditions amid the ongoing nuclear deadlock

The economic crisis in Iran has intensified while the prospects for nuclear negotiations remain highly uncertain.

In response to Pezeshkian’s request for Saudi Arabia to mediate between Tehran and Washington, the U.S. government once again emphasized its three conditions for negotiations with Iran’s regime.

Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy for Middle East affairs, had previously demanded that Iran’s regime fully abandon its nuclear and uranium enrichment program, dismantle its proxy forces, and accept limits on its missile program.

Some media outlets in Iran have reported that, in addition to diminishing hopes for reviving nuclear talks and political openings, discussions about the 2026 budget deficit and the gasoline price increase have also contributed to the turmoil in Iran’s currency and gold markets.