Iran has seen its biggest protests in three years after the rial fell to record lows against the US dollar and inflation accelerated, prompting traders, shopkeepers and other demonstrators to return to the streets for a second day. AP reported that the central bank governor resigned as the unrest widened from Tehran to other major cities.
Protesters gathered in downtown Tehran, including Saadi Street and the Shush neighborhood near the Grand Bazaar, while similar rallies were reported in Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad. AP said some police used tear gas to disperse crowds in parts of the capital. The protests were driven not by a single political demand but by worsening economic conditions that have made daily life more expensive and uncertain.
The rial’s slide has been severe. AP said it traded at 1.42 million to the dollar on Sunday and 1.38 million on Monday, down from around 430,000 when Mohammad Reza Farzin took office in 2022. That collapse is feeding inflation that is already squeezing households. Iran’s state statistics center said the December inflation rate reached 42.2% year on year, with food prices up 72% and health and medical items up 50%.
The report said merchants were central to the unrest, recalling the role bazaar traders played in the 1979 revolution. Businesses in parts of Tehran shut down, and the semiofficial ILNA agency said many shops stopped trading even though some remained open. The protests on Monday were the largest since 2022, when demonstrations spread after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.
AP said the economic pain is being compounded by broader political and strategic uncertainty. Reports that the government may raise taxes in the new Iranian year have added to anxiety, while fears of renewed conflict with Israel and the possibility of a wider confrontation with the United States are also weighing on markets.
The pressure on Iran’s currency is not new, but the speed of the latest decline has made the stakes more visible. AP noted that the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar during the 2015 nuclear accord and that the deal unraveled after Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018. Sanctions were then reimposed in September through the snapback mechanism.
For many Iranians, the latest protests are a sign that the country’s economic crisis has entered a more dangerous phase. The central bank leadership shake-up may ease immediate political pressure, but the underlying forces driving the unrest remain firmly in place.
