Iranian authorities arrested a number of people on Monday on the sidelines of a gathering of workers in a vital oil production area in the south of the country, an official said TuesdayAsalouyeh, located in the Bushehr province and overlooking the Gulf, is one of the main areas of energy and petrochemicals in Iran, especially the South Pars oil and gas field.

The city's governor, Ali Hashemi, said that "workers in a petrochemical plant located in Asalouyeh, organized a union gathering" on Monday, according to Fars news agency.

"Unfortunately, some opportunists infiltrated the gathering," he added, and "set fire to some of the kiosks on the site, in addition to some waste containers."

He pointed out that "with the intervention of the security forces, these people were dispersed and a number of them were arrested," without providing additional details.

In addition, the official "IRNA" agency denied the information reported by the Islamic "counter-revolutionary media" about the "strike" of workers in the petrochemical complex, stressing that production operations are "normal".

She added, "Only dozens of workers in a petrochemical plant" were protesting against the "non-payment of their salaries," noting that "about 40,000 people work in the South Pars field."

These labor movements came at a time when Iran has been witnessing widespread protests for more than three weeks against the background of the murder of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the morality police in Tehran, against the background of her failure to adhere to the strict rules of Islamic dress