The ITF is extremely concerned that news emerging from Iran has detailed a large number of driver arrests. Around 150 truck drivers in various provinces have reportedly been detained for participating in the action, with a spokesperson for the judiciary threatening “heavy punishment.”
Most seriously, the ITF understands that Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, has suggested that those who initiated the protest actions will be subject to the death penalty, citing a threat to national security. His comments have been echoed by other clerics.
ITF head of inland transport Noel Coard said: “We are very concerned about the situation. Let it be clear that ITF unions globally voice their solidarity and stand alongside the truckers of Iran in their fight to defend workers’ rights.”
Drivers have been protesting about low and unpaid wages, the high cost of parts (including tyres), and rising costs in the context of a deteriorating economic situation nationally.
Footage on social media shows hundreds of trucks parked in Tehran, Isfahan, Zrin Shahr, Droud, Arak, Marvdasht, Garmsar, Karan, Zarand, Marand, Kashan, Bandar Abbas and Mashhad.
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