Baluch women were beaten during protests over local mining projects in southeastern Iran, renewing attention on the Islamic Republic’s treatment of one of the country’s poorest and most heavily policed minorities.
The incidents were reported in Faryab county in Kerman province and in Taftan county in Sistan and Baluchestan, where residents had gathered to protest mining projects they say have damaged local livelihoods or excluded native communities from the benefits of natural resources.
The Baluch rights group Haalvsh said at least eight Baluch women were injured and six people, including three women, were arrested on Wednesday after forces attacked a protest over a chromite mine in Pashmoki, a village in Faryab county.
According to Haalvsh, residents were protesting what they described as the transfer of mining benefits to people with influence while local communities remain deprived of the economic gains. Videos published by the group show uniformed forces confronting women and other residents, with several women seen being pushed, struck or beaten.
Haalvsh said the detainees had been taken to an unknown location and their families had not received clear information about their condition or whereabouts.
The Pashmoki incident came less than 48 hours after Haalvsh reported another assault on Baluch women protesting activity linked to the Taftan gold mine in Sistan and Baluchestan province.
In that case, women in Sarsiah village said forces insulted, threatened and beat them after they objected to the mine’s impact on local water, farmland and daily life. Haalvsh said one woman was injured in the head after being struck with the butt of a weapon.
The immediate disputes are local, but the anger around them is rooted in a much wider sense of exclusion. Residents say mining projects are damaging water resources, disrupting villages and enriching others while Baluch communities remain poor.
Sistan and Baluchestan has long been one of Iran’s most deprived provinces. Its mostly Sunni Baluch population has faced discrimination, underdevelopment and heavy security pressure under the Islamic Republic. The region has repeatedly seen deadly crackdowns, including the 2022 “Bloody Friday” killings in Zahedan.
Human rights groups have also documented the disproportionate use of executions against Baluch prisoners, especially on drug-related charges. Amnesty International said Baluch people accounted for 29% of Iran’s drug-related executions in 2023 despite making up about 5% of the population. Iran Human Rights said Baluch prisoners represented 17% of drug-related executions in 2024, while forming an estimated 2% to 6% of Iran’s population.
Molavi Abdolhamid, the influential Sunni cleric in Zahedan, has repeatedly criticized the execution of Baluch prisoners. He said in 2023 that many people executed on drug-related charges had been accused of sales worth as little as $15 to $20, and that poverty, unemployment and lack of infrastructure had pushed some people in the region into smuggling fuel, goods or drugs as a lifeline.
That background is why the beatings at the mine protests have resonated beyond the two villages. The images show Baluch women, among the most marginalized voices in Iran, confronting security forces over the basic question of who benefits from the wealth beneath their land.
The Islamic Republic often frames unrest in Baluch areas through the language of security, smuggling or separatism. But the protests in Pashmoki and Sarsiah point to another reality: communities demanding water, livelihood, dignity and a say over local resources, and being met with batons, threats and arrests.
The messages, sent to Iran International on Thursday, reflect grief, suspicion and political anger after details emerged of the memorandum between Tehran and Washington.
The agreement outlines a halt to the war, a 60-day negotiation period, steps toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, possible oil waivers and discussions over frozen assets and sanctions relief.
But for many Iranians who responded, the central question was not what the Islamic Republic might receive, or whether Washington would enforce the terms. It was why ordinary Iranians appeared absent from the agreement.
“We gave our fallen, we endured more hunger and poverty, there was war, we moved further away from our dreams, we were hurt, we were killed unjustly, but uranium was the main issue,” one message said. “In these several clauses of the agreement, there was no word about the people of Iran.”
Another message described the memorandum as an agreement signed “over the bodies of Iran’s children,” referring to what the sender said were 42,000 lives lost.
The message reflected a broader anger among several respondents who saw the deal as a bargain made after months of bloodshed and repression.
Some directed their anger at US President Donald Trump, saying they had hoped Washington would side more clearly with the Iranian people. “Trump is a businessman who first sees his own profit and his country’s interests, and it does not matter to him what has happened or what will happen,” one message said.
Another sender wrote: “Tell Trump that your betrayal has remained so deeply in our hearts and minds that if one day America and Europe need the help of the people of Iran, not a single person will come toward you.”
Others focused on Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the lead Iranian negotiator expected to sign the memorandum in Switzerland on Friday. Ghalibaf has defended the document and urged officials to focus on improving the economy, but one message accused him of speaking more about Lebanon than about Iranians.
“Mr. Ghalibaf, in the same speech where you said we should fix people’s economy, you spoke several times more about Lebanon than about the people of Iran, and said the first clause of the agreement is also Lebanon,” the message said.
The 14-point memorandum includes a provision on ending military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, and ensuring Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It also includes provisions on the Strait of Hormuz, oil exports, frozen assets, sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program.
US officials have since sought to limit expectations, saying the memorandum does not provide Tehran with automatic access to frozen assets, immediate sanctions relief or direct US funding.
They said any economic benefit would depend on Iranian compliance and progress toward a final deal, particularly on nuclear issues.
Inside Iran, however, the messages show that many are judging the agreement less by its financial mechanisms than by what it signals politically.
Some saw it as proof that the Islamic Republic’s long confrontation with the United States had ended in failure. “We are not fooled by the regime’s propaganda,” one message said. “The current memorandum between Iran and America was a definite defeat for the Islamic Republic’s 47-year policy.”
Another urged patience and unity, framing the deal as part of a longer process of weakening the system. “Be patient, regime change is happening, although at a gentle speed,” the message said. “Just stay united and give each other hope.”
But several messages were more despairing than hopeful. One sender compared the moment to a scene in a war film where a soldier, after fighting through chaos, suddenly stands still in shock and cries.
“That is how we, the people of Iran, feel with the news of the negotiations,” the message said.
Another asked why no country had insisted that Iranians themselves had rights that should be part of any settlement. “Why was there no one anywhere in the world to say that we, the people of Iran, had the right to live?” the message said. “Why should the human rights of all people in the world be respected except those of Iranians?”
