Iranian Truck Drivers’ Strike Enters Second Week By The Media Line Staff Truck drivers across Iran have extended a rare and widespread strike into its second week, halting freight operations and disrupting supply chains across the country. The strike, which began last Thursday in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, has spread nationwide as […]
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The Media Line: Iranian Truck Drivers’ Strike Enters Second Week
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Iranian Truck Drivers’ Strike Enters Second Week
By The Media Line Staff
Truck drivers across Iran have extended a rare and widespread strike into its second week, halting freight operations and disrupting supply chains across the country. The strike, which began last Thursday in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, has spread nationwide as drivers protest poor pay, rising insurance costs, deteriorating road safety, and a planned fuel price hike.
The Iranian government recently announced that subsidized fuel for trucks would jump from 4 cents per liter to nearly 50 cents per liter by late June—equivalent to about $1.90 per gallon. Iran, which has some of the world’s cheapest fuel, argues the change is necessary to curb smuggling to neighboring countries like Pakistan, where fuel costs over $4 per gallon.
On Saturday, Jalal Mousavi of the truckers’ union said drivers were buckling under soaring costs for fuel and spare parts.
Dissidents including film director Jafar Panahi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi have voiced support for the strike. “This strike is a loud call to the government saying: ‘Enough! Stop all this oppression and plunder’,” Panahi wrote on Instagram.
Government spokespeople say officials are considering truckers’ concerns, while state media has tried to downplay the scale of the unrest. Videos circulating online show long lines of parked trucks and empty roads in cities like Isfahan and Kermanshah.
In response to the distribution of such videos, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced several arrests in Khuzestan province. Those detained are accused of filming strike activity and sending it to Persian-language outlets abroad. Authorities claim the videos were intended to create “media pressure” on the state.