'They Had Dreams': The Invisible Workers at Iran's Port , 09 May 2025.

When a massive explosion tore through Shahid Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas, the "zir-fansi-ha" or “under-the-fence” workers were engulfed in flames and smoke...Now, two weeks later, their families wait in agonizing limbo, searching for loved ones who officially never existed...At the bottom of Iran’s labor hierarchy, these workers were unregistered, undocumented, and ultimately invisible...
..."I'm from Pasak Qasr-e Qand village, but I've lived in Bandar Abbas since I was two," he said. "There were about 200 companies at the port, each with at least 200 employees. All the workers were daily wage earners. Our company stored barrels of bitumen, and all its workers were on daily wages."...
The young man had handled bitumen barrels with bare hands - no gloves, no safety equipment...When workplace inspectors showed up, he and his colleagues would make themselves scarce. Speaking out about conditions meant losing access to all 200 companies operating at the port...
The absence of documentation has made the aftermath of the disaster especially cruel...
“The identity of daily-wage workers isn’t registered, and they don’t have permanent employers"...

According to civil society activists, over 350 workers remained hospitalized in Bandar Abbas’s Sahib Al-Zaman and Shahid Mohammadi hospitals, with more than 20 in critical condition...
....