Qualla: Abadan Building Collapse https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Abadan Building Collapse https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse Abadan Building Collapse: Introduction https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ The Metropol building was never supposed to be ten stories tall. Permits allowed six floors, but in Abadan, where oil money and political connections have long shaped the skyline, four additional stories went up anyway. On the afternoon of May 23, 2022, gravity enforced the regulation that officials had not. The building pancaked while still under construction, trapping more than 80 people beneath concrete and rebar in a city already scarred by decades of war, fire, and broken promises.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Abadan Building Collapse: Concrete and Complicity https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ The Metropol stood in central Abadan, a commercial and residential tower rising in a city where construction oversight had long been a matter of paperwork rather than enforcement. When the structure gave way that May afternoon, rescue workers pulled survivors from gaps in the rub...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-concrete-and-complicity.mp3 0:06 2 full Abadan Building Collapse: A City That Remembers https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ Abadan has endured catastrophe before. In 1978, arsonists set fire to the Cinema Rex, killing hundreds and helping ignite the revolution that toppled the Shah. In 1980, Iraqi forces besieged the city for twelve months, destroying its refinery and driving out nearly the entire civ...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-a-city-that-remembers.mp3 0:06 3 full Abadan Building Collapse: Anger Spills Into the Streets https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ Demonstrations erupted across Khuzestan province within days. Protesters in Abadan chanted against the government. The anger quickly merged with weeks of existing unrest over rising food costs, spreading to cities throughout Iran. The governor of Abadan went on state television t...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-anger-spills-into-the-streets.mp3 0:06 4 full Abadan Building Collapse: The Price of Speaking Out https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ The collapse reverberated far beyond Abadan. In July, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear, was arrested after posting a social media appeal urging security forces not to suppress protesters. His colleague Mostafa Al-Ahmad was detained alo...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-the-price-of-speaking-out.mp3 0:06 5 full Abadan Building Collapse: What Remains https://qualla.com/abadan-building-collapse/ The rubble of the Metropol has been cleared, but the site remains a wound in Abadan's landscape. For a city defined by its refinery, its wars, and its resilience, the collapse added another layer to a difficult history. The forty-three people who died were not casualties of geopo...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/6/k/abadan-building-collapse-wp/tj6k-abadan-building-collapse-what-remains.mp3 0:06 6 full