Tehran shopkeepers protest rial’s steep devaluation, soaring prices

Shopkeepers in southern Tehran went on strike on Tuesday protesting runaway inflation and the rial’s steep devaluation, according to videos received by Iran International.

The shopkeepers protested around Molavi Street, Mohammadieh Square, and South Khayyam Street, an area known as a historic trading region of Iran's capital, holding up signs demanding economic stability and relief from soaring prices.

Similar protests were staged last year in late December when business owners and employees in Tehran’s historic bazaar staged a rare strike, spurring demonstrations in other commercial hubs in the capital.

On Tuesday, every US dollar was exchanged for 843,100 rials in the open market.

Iran’s currency has lost more than 30% of its value since early September last year, and inflation of consumer good has spiked to 50%, based on media reports from Tehran.

The Iranian rial’s sharp depreciation has had ripple effects across the economy. For merchants, it has created an untenable mix of higher costs and reduced consumer demand as at least one third of Iran is now living below the poverty line.

Since 2018, when the US re-imposed economic sanctions under the maximum pressure policy, Iranian currency has dropped nearly 20-fold. In the last five months alone, the rial has lost a further 30% of its value.

Over one third of Iranians are now living below the poverty line amid the worst economic crisis since the founding of the Islamic Republic.

Since the crisis kicked in back in 2022, it has led to many Iranians bartering for food items.