Iranian oil workers have struck for a second day over wages and the government's inability to tame price growth as official data showed the country's inflation rate jumped to 52.5 percent in June.
According to the Coordinating Council of Protests of Oil Contract Workers, employees at the Tehran Oil Refinery continued their protest against an increase in working hours and low wages, while drivers and workers at the West Oil and Gas Exploitation Company gathered at the company's location in the western city of Dehloran saying they hadn't been paid in months.
Workers, pensioners, and other groups have been protesting over economic conditions in recent weeks, blaming the government for spiraling inflation and failing to deliver on promises to increase wages and improve living conditions.
The Statistics Center of Iran brought more bad news for the average Iranians on June 28, announcing that annual price growth in June rose 13.2 percentage points to 52.5 percent.
According to the report, price growth in "food, beverages and tobacco" increased by 32.2 percentage points to 81.6 percent, while "nonfood goods and services" increased by 2.8 percentage points to 36.8 percent.
Iranian pensioners and retired public employees rallied in the southern city of Ahvaz on June 28 to demand the repeal of a government decision to increase the minimum wage by 10 percent.
Devastated by years of harsh economic sanctions imposed by Washington since the United States pulled out of an accord with global superpowers aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program, many Iranians have launched protests in recent months to decry the government's inability to help their lives.
Most of the protests have been met with security crackdowns.