By Free Iran Scholars Network (FISN) Research Team
Note: FISN research reports and papers may be used freely with proper referencing and credit to the authors and the Free Iran Scholars Network.
1. Abstract
This report presents a comprehensive analysis of nationwide protests in Iran from March 21, 2024, to March 21, 2025. Drawing on data obtained from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)—gathered by their Resistance Units inside Iran—the study documents 3,902 distinct protest events spanning a wide array of social and occupational groups. Key findings include sectoral breakdowns (health workers, retirees, truck drivers, farmers, etc.) and quantitative indicators of the socioeconomic crisis fueling dissent, such as rampant inflation, collapsing real wages, and widespread poverty. Through detailed contextualization of unemployment, food-price inflation, and state spending priorities (militarization and nuclear expenditures), the report argues that these protests constitute a unified national outcry against economic mismanagement, corruption, and political repression. It concludes that meaningful change in Iran will require far-reaching structural reforms, as the regime’s current policies have systematically undermined the welfare of ordinary citizens.
2. Introduction
Over the past decade, Iran has experienced a deepening socioeconomic crisis: skyrocketing inflation, dwindling real wages, and expanding poverty. By early 2024, these pressures catalyzed an unprecedented wave of civic mobilization, culminating in widespread protests that transcended class, region, and profession. To document and analyze this phenomenon, the FISN Research Team collected and synthesized data from the PMOI/MEK, based on reports circulated by underground Resistance Units inside Iran.
Objectives:
- Quantify the total number of protest events (March 21, 2024 – March 21, 2025) and categorize them by sector.
- Illuminate the socioeconomic and political drivers underpinning sustained civil unrest.
- Assess the role of Resistance Units in recording protest activity and amplifying local grievances.
- Propose avenues for further scholarly inquiry into the root causes of instability, acknowledging that change will arise from sustained resistance rather than internal policy shifts.
Section I presents Key Findings (3,902 documented protests and their sectoral breakdown). Section II contextualizes these events within Iran’s broader socioeconomic landscape (food-price inflation, erosion of real wages). Section III offers an in-depth Analysis of how corruption, disproportionate military expenditures, and collapsing public services have galvanized dissent. Finally, Section IV concludes with reflections on the “Society on the Brink,” arguing that only sustained grassroots pressure and international solidarity can overturn the status quo.
3. Methodology
Data Sources
- Protest Events: 3,902 total, from PMOI/MEK’s Resistance Units inside Iran.
- Economic Indicators: Inflation, poverty, and investment figures from Iranian outlets (e.g., Young Journalists Club; EcoIran; RFI; Urban Planning Officials) and cross-checked against international databases (World Bank, UNDP).
- Supplementary Verification: Cross-referenced PMOI/MEK figures with independent open-source reporting (local press, satellite imagery).
Definitions & Coding
- Protest Event: Any discrete instance of collective civil action (strikes, sit-ins, road blockades, worker walkouts) reported on a given date at a specific location. Multiple demonstrations in one city on the same day count separately only if the target constituency differed or they occurred in distinct districts (> 10 km apart).
- Sectoral Categories: Nine primary sectors (Health Workers; Retirees; Truck Drivers; Farmers; Teachers; University Students; Industrial Laborers; Women-Headed Households; Other), assigned based on keywords in PMOI/MEK reports. Ambiguities reviewed by two FISN analysts.
- Geographic Coding: Tagged by province using official boundaries; when unspecified, inferred from context.
Data Limitations
- Underreporting in Remote Regions: Resistance Units are more active in urban centers; remote villages may be underrepresented.
- Verification Lag: Some economic statistics reflect late 2024 conditions rather than early 2025.
- Sector Overlaps: In events involving multiple groups, tagged according to the group explicitly named.
By defining entries’ counting, coding, and cross-checking, this methodology ensures transparency in our tally of 3,902 protest events and all subsequent calculations.
Data Visualization:
4. Key Findings
Total number of protests: 3,902
Breakdown by sector:
| Sector | Number of Protests |
| Retirees | 2,156 |
| Workers – Laborers | 1,836 |
| Nurses | 1,186 |
| Other groups | 1,814 |
| Merchants | 190 |
| Truck Drivers | 136 |
| University Students | 112 |
| Teachers | 106 |
| Farmers | 166 |
| Doctors | 32 |
| Bakers | 24 |
| Taxi Drivers | 22 |
| Livestock Farmers | 6 |
| Poultry Farmers | 2 |
| Pick-up Truck Drivers | 12 |
| Students | 2 |
| Engineers | 2 |
The PMOI/MEK Resistance Units operated at great personal risk, not only documenting these events but also coordinating protests, infusing them with political purpose. Thanks to their efforts, isolated expressions of economic frustration became powerful collective acts of defiance, often directly challenging the regime’s highest echelons.
5. Socioeconomic Crisis: Context for the Protests
- Women-Headed Households in Crisis
- Of 6 million women heads of household, nearly 4 million urgently need support.
Source: Young Journalists Club, July 17, 2023
- Of 6 million women heads of household, nearly 4 million urgently need support.
- Soaring Cost of Living & Food Inflation
- In 13 years, average food and beverage prices rose over 41-fold.
- Consumer price index increased more than 23-fold.
- Vegetables up 63-fold; bread and grains 26.5-fold.
Source: EcoIran, August 12, 2024
- Poverty & Marginalization
- Officially, 32 % of the population below the poverty line; some estimate up to 75 %.
- Government report: 36 million Iranians (of 85 million) below the poverty line.
- At least 24 million live in substandard housing.
Sources: RFI, August 22, 2021; Urban Planning Officials
- Investment Collapse
- Power-sector investment fell from $6.5 billion (2008) to $500 million recently.
Source: ISNA, May 27, 2024
- Power-sector investment fell from $6.5 billion (2008) to $500 million recently.
- Worker Exploitation & Industrial Deaths
- At least 10,000 workers die annually in workplace accidents—19× U.S. rate, 25× France, 70× Norway/Sweden.
- Many informal-sector deaths unreported; at least 27 per day.
Source: ILNA, May 13, 2025
- Collapse of Wages & Living Standards
- 2025 minimum wage: 103,990,000 rials/month (< $104).
- Minimum cost of living: 350,000,000 rials/month.
- Wage covers < 30 % of a family’s basic needs.
Sources: Labor Ministry, March 16, 2025; Jahan-e Sanat
6. Analysis
Economic Mismanagement & Corruption
Rampant corruption has plundered national resources for the regime’s elite, leaving ordinary Iranians to struggle. While regime insiders live lavishly, average workers earn only a third of the minimum food-basket cost. Over 25 million Iranians live below the poverty line; 15 million go to bed hungry each night.
Misplaced Priorities
Billions are diverted to fund proxy groups and an inefficient nuclear program—estimated at over $2 trillion—enriching IRGC commanders and regime-linked businesses. Domestic investment in infrastructure, healthcare, and education has collapsed. Medical staff work under unsafe conditions; schools and universities face severe repression.
Agricultural Collapse & Inflation
Farmers and merchants suffer from mismanagement: water resources are squandered, inflation runs rampant, and arbitrary regulations devastate livelihoods, turning once-thriving communities into symbols of the regime’s incompetence.
Social Injustice
Teachers and students—voices of the next generation—are crushed by limits on academic freedom and social expression.
A Society on the Brink
These 3,902 protests—cutting across every class and profession—underscore a unified demand for dignity, justice, and a future free from corruption. Anything less than fundamental regime change will fail to address these grievances.
7. Recommendations for Resistance and the International Community
I. Support and Strengthen Grassroots Resistance
- Establish clandestine supply chains (medical kits, legal aid, communications).
- Organize encrypted online workshops on nonviolent tactics.
- Create mutual-aid funds for arrested protesters’ families and striking workers.
II. Mobilize the Iranian Diaspora
- Launch synchronized diasporic days of action (UN letters, petitions, online events).
- Fund translations of protest materials into English, French, and Arabic.
- Partner with universities for syllabus modules and panel discussions on the 2024–25 protests.
III. Engage International Human Rights & Aid Organizations
- Petition the UN Human Rights Council for a Special Rapporteur on economic and civil rights in Iran.
- Advocate targeted sanctions on IRGC-linked entities responsible for mismanagement.
- Coordinate humanitarian corridors for food and medical aid via Turkey or Afghanistan.
IV. Amplify Women-Led and Minority Protests
- Assign reporting liaisons to highlight women’s hunger strikes and sit-ins.
- Collaborate with Kurdish and Arab diaspora groups on environmental and ethnic-rights campaigns.
- Convene virtual scholar-activist roundtables for underground clinics and legal networks.
V. Coordinate with Regional Pro-Democracy Movements
- Establish cross-border solidarity networks with Lebanese, Iraqi, and Afghan groups.
- Build a “Regional Protest Archive” for shared audiovisual evidence.
- Submit joint petitions to the ICC and UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on regional mass arrests.
8. Call to Scholars
Iran stands at a historic inflection point. We appeal to scholars—especially of Iranian heritage—to lend your expertise:
- Collaborative Research: Share datasets (strike logs, union records, satellite imagery) for cross-validation and joint publications.
- Fieldwork & Oral Histories: Document anonymized testimonies and conduct ethnographic studies in recurring-protest communities.
- Amplify Marginalized Voices: Publish bilingual glosses of protest slogans and curate thematic special issues.
- International Forums: Present at APSA, ASA, UNESCO, and Carter Center meetings to keep Iran’s struggle central in global discourse.
By contributing data-driven analysis, ethnographic depth, and policy critique, scholars can help translate the 2024–25 protests’ sacrifices into global awareness and systemic reform.
9. Conclusion: “A Society on the Brink”
The protests documented herein are a unified national outcry against a system that has plundered Iran’s wealth and crushed its people’s hopes. They reveal a deep crisis of legitimacy and a society determined to reclaim its rights. Only sustained grassroots pressure, backed by international solidarity and rigorous scholarship, can overcome the regime’s grip and usher in genuine, systemic change.