Iran truckers defy crackdown as nationwide strike expands to 140 cities

Eight days into a sweeping strike that has paralyzed freight movement across Iran, truck drivers are defying arrests and mounting pressure from authorities, as support for their protest spreads across key sectors.

The Truckers and Drivers Union said on Thursday that strikes had expanded to over 141 cities, vowing to continue until demands are met.

“This unity and solidarity is the result of your determination,” the union wrote in a statement. “Thanks to all the drivers, small freight operators, teachers, retirees, workers and free citizens who joined us. Our path is clear and we will persist.”

Truck drivers first walked off the job on May 22 to protest surging fuel costs, a lack of insurance coverage, and stagnant freight rates. Despite efforts by authorities to suppress the action—including arrests and interrogations in multiple provinces—footage from cities such as Bandar Abbas and Marivan shows major highways emptied of heavy vehicles.

Strikes go beyond occupational grievances

Over 180 rights and student organizations aligned with Iran's Woman, Life, Freedom movement announced their backing for the truckers.

“We do not see this as a purely professional dispute,” they said in a joint statement released on Thursday. “It is part of a broader political and nationwide struggle to reclaim livelihood and dignity.”

They urged other sectors—teachers, factory and service workers, healthcare staff, shopkeepers, students—to form coordination councils and join the movement through synchronized action.

Student groups from Tehran, Kordestan, and Isfahan also lent support, along with teachers’ collectives and grassroots youth organizations.

Iran Labor Confederation, based abroad, called the strike emblematic of systemic repression.

“The truckers’ strike is a response to persistent economic abuse and denial of independent union rights,” the group wrote to the International Labor Organization. It demanded the expulsion of Iranian state delegates from the ILO and the release of detained labor activists.

Iran’s freight industry is unusually fragmented. According to official data, more than 550,000 drivers operate 433,000 trucks, but just 7% are owned by companies. The remaining 93% are controlled by individual owner-operators, making collective pressure harder to dissolve.

“Dispersed ownership is exactly why this strike is so hard to break,” said Firooz Khodaei, head of the truckers union. He confirmed the government has temporarily suspended a tiered diesel pricing plan and invited trucker representatives to participate in policy talks.