Social Media Report Protests by Iranian Oil Workers for Higher Wages

A woman walks down a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters/File Photo
A woman walks down a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters/File Photo
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Social Media Report Protests by Iranian Oil Workers for Higher Wages

A woman walks down a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters/File Photo
A woman walks down a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters/File Photo

Social media posts on Saturday purported to show a group of protesting oil workers in southern Iran demanding higher wages and retirement bonuses.

The reported oil workers’ protests, which Reuters could not verify, comes amid an uprising across Iran, the boldest challenge to the republic since the 1979 revolution.

The nationwide protests were triggered by the Sept. 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iran's Kurdish region, for wearing "inappropriate attire”.

Iran's oil ministry was not immediately available to comment.

The activist HRANA news agency said on Saturday that a group of oil workers protested outside the Pars Oil and Petrochemical Company in Asaluyeh in the southern Bushehr Province on the Gulf coast.

It said in addition to wage increases and pension bonuses, the removal of high income taxes and salary cap, improved welfare services and health conditions were among the protesters’ demands.

A combination of mass protests and strikes by oil workers and Bazaar merchants helped to sweep the clergy to power in the Iranian revolution four decades ago.



Russia Says It Downed 36 Ukraine-Launched Drones over Several Russian Regions

Ukrainian soldiers carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the front line, near the city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on March 25, 2024. (AP)
Ukrainian soldiers carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the front line, near the city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on March 25, 2024. (AP)
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Russia Says It Downed 36 Ukraine-Launched Drones over Several Russian Regions

Ukrainian soldiers carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the front line, near the city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on March 25, 2024. (AP)
Ukrainian soldiers carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the front line, near the city of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on March 25, 2024. (AP)

Russia's air defense systems destroyed 36 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting several regions in Russia's southwest, the Russian defense ministry said on Sunday.

Fifteen drones were destroyed over the Kursk region that borders Ukraine and nine over the Lipetsk region, several hundred kilometers south of Moscow, the defense ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Four drones were destroyed each over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions in southwestern Russia and two each over the nearby Oryol and Belgorod regions.

The governors of the Lipetsk and Bryansk regions said on their Telegram channels that there were no injuries or extensive damage as a result of the attacks.

Russian officials often do not disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Kyiv has said attacks on Russia's military, transport and energy infrastructure are in response to Moscow's attacks on Ukraine's territory since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.