This article examines work, employment relations and industrial conflict at Iran Khodro, Iran's largest car plant. It pays particular attention to work intensification and the spread of contract work, which according the workers have led to a rise in the number of fatal industrial accidents at the plant. These developments, we argue, are rooted in an alliance between the Islamic regime and its neo-liberal policies on the one hand, and the western multinational companies that have returned to Iran on the other. We also briefly examine workers' resistance to these developments, which has taken place despite the absence of permanent workers' organisations.