- Strike impacts repairs and safety checks, according to reports
- Security forces open fire on protesters, media reports say
According to Bloomberg article published on December 31, 2023, workers at Iran’s biggest oil refinery went on strike on Saturday, impacting repairs and safety checks at the facility, according to unconfirmed reports and footage published on social media.
It wasn’t clear if production was affected at the Abadan site. A call for comment was unanswered outside regular business hours.
Commissioned more than a century ago, the Middle East’s oldest oil refinery is located in the southern Khuzestan province near the Persian Gulf and has a reported processing capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.
Industrial strikes have become more widespread across Iran, including in the key energy sector, following protests that have swept the nation since mid-September, triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was arrested for allegedly flouting strict Islamic dress codes.
Security forces used tear gas and opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the western city of Javanroud near Iraq’s border on Saturday, according to media reports.
Videos showed clashes in a graveyard during a traditional religious ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of at least seven people that rights groups say were killed amid unrest in the city.
The Norway-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization, which monitors Iran’s protests, said riot police shot dead a 22-year-old man in Javanroud on Saturday while several others were wounded. Videos showed the man being stretchered with a bullet wound to the chest.
None of the reports or footage could be immediately verified by Bloomberg.
Authorities have so far hanged two men in connection with the unrest following fast-tracked trials. More than 400 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protests, with thousands more in prison and at least 100 people facing execution, according to human rights groups.
