Massive Strikes Sweep Iran’s Oil Industry

Workers of public Iranian oil companies protesting poor living conditions (Twitter)
Workers of public Iranian oil companies protesting poor living conditions (Twitter)
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Massive Strikes Sweep Iran’s Oil Industry

Workers of public Iranian oil companies protesting poor living conditions (Twitter)
Workers of public Iranian oil companies protesting poor living conditions (Twitter)

Workers in Iran’s oil industry have expanded their strikes on Tuesday to include employees from major companies in the country’s south. This comes at a time when living conditions continue to deteriorate and authorities struggle to restore calm in Iran following four months of anti-regime social unrest.

Video footage shared on social media showed the spread of strikes among oil company workers.

Workers of companies in the cities of Ahwaz, Aghajari, Bushehr, and Asaluyeh, joined the strikes organized by unions to protest the living situation.

The cities of Abadan and Bandar-e Mahshahr, which include the two largest petrochemical and oil refining facilities in the country, witnessed a return to strikes at the beginning of this week.

Workers are demanding better wages, lower taxes, and better services, including pensions after retirement.

Permanent workers in Iran’s oil industry said they will join a strike announced by contract oil workers and will stop work to protest the government’s crackdown on a wave of nationwide demonstrations following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for not wearing her hijab “properly.”

Iranian authorities are pushing onward with their security crackdown on the capital and major cities, with the aim of eliminating hotbeds of protests that shook the country in the past months. Hundreds of people were killed during the crackdown.

At least 524 people, including 71 minors, have been killed in the violent crackdown by security forces on protesters while over 19,000 are said to be arrested, according to the latest tally by US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

HRANA also reported the death of 68 security and military personnel during the crackdown on protests.

Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Iran's Kurdish regions, accused the Iranian security services of kidnapping 96 Kurdish citizens during the first two weeks of January.

The organization said that “five students, four teachers, and five women were among those kidnapped.”



Ukraine Receives F-16s from Netherlands, 1st Mirage Jets from France

A serviceman of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carries a Shark reconnaissance drone, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko
A serviceman of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carries a Shark reconnaissance drone, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko
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Ukraine Receives F-16s from Netherlands, 1st Mirage Jets from France

A serviceman of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carries a Shark reconnaissance drone, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko
A serviceman of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carries a Shark reconnaissance drone, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko

Ukraine said on Thursday it had received a first batch of French Mirage 2000 fighter jets as well as US-made F-16 fighters from the Netherlands as European allies seek to strengthen Kyiv's hand in its war with Russia.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago, Ukraine had only a largely outdated air force inherited from the Soviet Union when it broke up in 1991.

Now facing Russian advances in the east and long-range air strikes, Ukraine has repeatedly pressed Western allies to supply it with increasingly advanced arms and ammunition including armoured vehicles, tanks, long-range missiles and F-16 fighters.

Mirage 2000s are the latest sophisticated jets Ukraine has received from allies after the first F-16s arrived last summer, marking a military milestone for the country.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised France and the Netherlands for their commitment to helping modernise Ukraine's air force.

"These modern combat aircraft have already arrived in Ukraine and will soon begin carrying out combat missions, strengthening our defense and enhancing our ability to effectively counter Russian aggression," Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

The exact number of F-16 and Mirage jets delivered was not revealed.
The Dutch defense ministry said that for security reasons it would not comment on the timing of deliveries, nor on the amount supplied at any given time.

The Netherlands has promised to deliver Ukraine a total of 24 F-16s, next to the fighter jets it supplies to a training center for Ukrainian pilots and crew in Romania.

French officials also cited security reasons in declining to specify how many warplanes had been supplied, although they did say the jets had been adapted to enable air-to-ground strikes, Reuters reported.

The Mirage 2000 is a multi-role, single-engine jet fighter. Last June, President Emmanuel Macron promised that France would train Ukrainian pilots to fly the Dassault-made jets, crossing a new line in military support for Kyiv.

The Mirage, which has been replaced by the Rafale fighter in the French air force, was initially conceived for aerial dogfights.
A French parliamentary report at the end of 2024 said that of the 26 Mirage 2000s in the French air force, six would be given to Ukraine.
France will on February 12 host a meeting with Ukraine, its main European allies, Britain and the United States to discuss how to strengthen support for Kyiv.