Bread Crisis Sparks Unrest: Iran Ignites from Within Its Bakeries

Originally published at Alhurra by Randa Jebai

In Iran, the war ended weeks ago, but the situation is on the brink of explosion.

Not with missiles this time.

It’s a major crisis that Tehran is trying to cover up. But video clips obtained by Alhurra from inside Iran show protests erupting in more than 30 provinces over the scarcity of bread.

Alhurra verified the authenticity of the footage and confirmed that the demonstrations are related to the rising cost of basic food.

These protests are not the first this year.

In April, bakers in Kermanshah, western Iran, demonstrated against a sudden threefold increase in insurance premiums.

As financial burdens mounted on both bakers and consumers, the spark of protests spread to several Iranian cities.

“Observers see these movements as an extension of earlier protests,” says Ramesh Sepehrrad, head of the advisory council of the Iranian Communities Organization, speaking to Alhurra. She recalls the 2019 protests ignited by gasoline price hikes, and before that, the rise in egg prices in Mashhad City.

“In both cases, it ended in a broad popular uprising with slogans like: ‘Down with the dictators,’ and ‘The Iranian people want to change and topple this regime,’” Sepehrrad adds.

From April to July, the crisis has been escalating without pause.

One baker from inside Iran told Alhurra:
“The northern flour distribution site has been closed for over a month without any official notice”.

We were forced to use Tehran’s flour only, but it’s not even suitable for making bread! No quality whatsoever—as if they filled the bags with dirt.”

He adds angrily:
“Officials keep repeating the same phrases to us, like they’re talking to a child: ‘Go, we’ll hold a meeting and fix things.’ We know these promises all too well. They’ve been saying this for six months, and nothing has changed”.

God help us. They’ve made us fight each other—problems and disputes inside the bakery have become routine.”

Meanwhile, state media, especially government TV, launched an intensive propaganda campaign to discredit the bakers’ protests, which only deepened public resentment and mistrust in state institutions.

On July 2, 2025, the Hengaw human rights organization reported that Iranian authorities arrested Yadollah Elmi, head of the Bakers’ Union in Saqqez, along with at least ten other bakers who took part in the protests.

According to informed sources, the arrests were carried out by the intelligence service following a mass strike by bakers the same day.

During the 12-day war with Israel, the Iranian government froze bread prices. But on Sunday morning, traditional bread prices rose again in provinces such as Qom, Razavi Khorasan, Hamadan, and Gilan.

Last Saturday, Mohammad Javad Karami, head of the Flour and Bread Task Force, said the increase had been planned before the 12-day war.
“Given the circumstances, we delayed implementation. Now, with conditions stabilized, Tehran province will announce the new prices,” he said.

Sepehrrad believes the regime knows very well that manipulating prices and adding economic pressure could spark another uprising.

“It’s clear they didn’t want to face that during the 12-day war,” she says.

“But what’s crucial is this: if we look at 2024 and 2025, the regime is facing alarming statistics.”

She confirms Iran has witnessed over 3,000 protests in this period—
not only by bakers, but also teachers, students, youth, retirees, bankers, taxi and truck drivers.

“This clearly shows a sweeping economic collapse and an almost total loss of political legitimacy,” she concludes.

Iran has seen continuous waves of social unrest in recent years, mostly over economic issues.

In the past seven years alone, five major uprisings erupted, each spanning more than 150 cities, shaking the regime’s foundations.

Sepehrrad says the Islamic Republic is now in its weakest economic phase since 1979.

She attributes this to obvious reasons: An uncontrollable economic collapse, failure to provide basic services like electricity, gas, and water, entrenched corruption, and relentless repression.

“These factors,” she notes, “fueled the 2022 uprising.”

At the same time, state-affiliated media issued unusually stark warnings earlier this month.

Mohammad Sadr, a member of the Expediency Council, admitted that more than 30 million Iranians—over a third of the population—live below the poverty line.

Quoted by Khabar Online, he said:
“Economic problems are destroying the country. Solving them requires an effective foreign policy, not just internal reforms.”

On July 14, 2025, the pro-regime newspaper Setareh Sobh reported that one in three Iranians faces severe economic hardship, citing economists who blame the government’s lack of economic priorities—
preferring to focus on “fighting the West, the U.S., and Israel” instead of addressing domestic crises.

The latest report from Iran’s Statistical Center shows annual inflation reached 34.5% at the end of June, while unemployment in spring stood at 7.7%.

The Misery Index hit 42.2 points, higher than last year’s rate for the same period, reflecting worsening poverty.

Runaway inflation remains a key reason why so many Iranians fall below the poverty line.

Since the late 1970s, the Iranian rial has continuously lost value, with annual inflation often hitting double or even triple digits.

In recent years, the situation worsened with soaring exchange rates and production costs, causing an unprecedented collapse in household purchasing power.

Sepehrrad stresses that the velayat-e faqih system, which grants absolute authority to the Supreme Leader under Article 110 of the constitution, has delivered no social justice—
quite the opposite: it concentrated wealth and power in the hands of a narrow elite.

“This system has effectively turned into a class-based regime,” she says,
“where major decisions serve the ruler and his inner circle, not the public interest.”

She adds that current economic policies—from opaque financial allocations to failed subsidies and neglect of infrastructure—are designed to impoverish the majority while channeling wealth into institutions controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

On March 16, 2025, Labor Minister in Masoud Pezeshkian’s government announced the new minimum wage for Iranian workers would be 10,399,000 tomans—less than $104 per month at the time.

That same day, the pro-regime paper Jahan Sanat commented:
“This amount doesn’t even cover 30% of minimum living costs.”

Opposition reports say the Revolutionary Guard controls over 60% of Iran’s economy, directly or indirectly, through no-bid government contracts and mega-projects that monopolize public resources—
while millions of Iranians cannot meet basic needs.

Sepehrrad warns that indicators coming from inside Iran point to a new uprising unless the regime backs down.

“The authorities fear this possibility deeply,” she says, “and are trying to suppress it through arrests, threats, and intimidation.”

But she insists the balance of fear is shifting:
“Fear is no longer only on the streets—it’s inside officials’ offices. The crisis they created is out of control, and what awaits them is a widespread call for regime change.”

And although bread may seem like a simple issue, Sepehrrad concludes, today it has become a spark:

“The tightrope between public pressure and official repression is stretching thinner by the day—and it could snap at any moment.”