Tehran —The truck drivers’ strike in Iran, which entered its eighth day on Sunday, extended to all provinces despite the arrest of dozens of drivers and the threats of the judiciary to execute some on charges of “threatening national security.”

A number of activists published footage on social media showing hundreds of trucks parked in Tehran, Isfahan, Zrin Shahr and Mashhad.

In an international solidarity initiative, truck drivers in the Netherlands went out in a demonstration driving their trucks.

The Iranian authorities have arrested 40 truck drivers in various provinces for participating in the strike, which has been ongoing for days in protest against the lack of wages, the high cost of car parts such as tires, raising freight charges and rising costs in the deteriorating economic conditions.

Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri threatened to execute the strike organizers on charges of “threatening national security.”

The strike became the most important among other continuing labor strikes in Iran, as it contributed to the paralyzed economic conditions, while the high fuel prices started to worry the regime which is trying to clamp down on the strikers.

Meanwhile, at least 27 people have died and more than 300 poisoned after drinking bootleg alcohol in Iran, the state emergency services said on Sunday, in one of the worst such cases in the country.

Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for the state emergency services, said some 176 people were still hospitalized across five provinces, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported.

Despite a ban on alcohol for Iran’s majority Muslims and frequent police raids, bootleg alcohol is widely available. — Agencies