According to media reports and The National news agency article published on October 12, 2022, anti-regime demonstrations took place at two refinery complexes. Workers at refineries critical to Iran’s oil and natural gas production are protesting over the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody, escalating the crisis faced by Tehran.
Online videos analyzed by the Associated Press showed dozens of workers gathered at the refineries in Asaluyeh, about 925 kilometers south of Tehran, on the Arabian Gulf. The vast complex takes in natural gas from the major offshore natural gas field that Iran shares with Qatar.
The details in the videos correspond to known features of the facility when compared to satellite photos taken on Sunday.
But Iranian officials have presented a different narrative, saying that the oil workers are angered by a dispute over wages and are not protesting against the death of Amini.
Governor Ali Hashemi said some Iranians tried to hijack the workers' protests by chanting anti-government slogans, Reuters reported citing Iran’s Young Journalists Club News (YJC) telegram account.
In what could prove to be a highly significant development, oil and petrochemical workers at several sites along Iran’s Persian Gulf coast staged anti-government protests and walkouts on Monday. The Council of Oil Contract Workers claimed that 4,000 workers struck oil refineries and other facilities, including in Abadan, Bushehr, and Asaluyeh.
Unverified videos shared on Twitter showed dozens of petrochemical workers, some in uniforms, gathering outside buildings or staging demonstrations at the Abadan refinery in the oil-producing hub of Khuzestan.
The strikes appeared to take place at phase two of the Abadan refinery, which has major symbolic significance in Iran. Strikes at the facility, the oldest in the Middle East, played a crucial role in the 1979 revolution.
The apparent industrial action at Abadan follows Monday's reports of strikes in Assaluyeh, which is east of Abadan on the Persian Gulf, at a plant that processes gas from the giant South Pars field. None of the footage could be verified.
