Hundreds of shopkeepers at several bazaars in Tehran, above, shut down their stalls Dec. 29 and protested over soaring prices, skyrocketing rents, raw material shortages and government disdain. The protest began with fabric merchants and shoemakers and spread. The plummeting Iranian currency — now at 820,000 rials to the dollar — has put many products out of the reach of workers and cut into sales that small business owners rely on.
The overthrow of the Tehran-backed Bashar al-Assad dictatorship in Syria, combined with the costs of Tehran’s expansionist war moves abroad, as well as the effects of U.S.-led sanctions, has accelerated the economic crisis.
The independent Union of Truckers and Drivers declared “full solidarity” with the shopkeepers, noting that “the unstable currency fluctuations and endless high prices” have made conditions for truckers “unbearable.”
Widespread electrical blackouts have shut down factories and schools. Anger increased after President Masoud Pezeshkian called on Iranians to turn down the thermostat two degrees to save gas. The crisis has deepened opposition to the Iranian rulers’ war moves aimed at the destruction of Israel.