Iran’s president urged his government to listen to the “legitimate demands” of protesters, state media reported yesterday, amid the country’s largest protests in three years after it currency plummeted to a record low against the US dollar and the head of the central bank resigned.
State TV reported the resignation of central bank governor Mohammad Reza Farzin, while traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran, as well as in the Shush neighborhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. Witnesses reported similar rallies in other major cities including Isfahan in central Iran, Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast.
Photos from the Fars News Agency had shown tear gas being used to disperse protesters, but by yesterday, most shops and cafes in the city center were open and anti-riot police were keeping watch on the main squares.
Photo: Fars News Agency via AP
The US dollar was trading at about 1.42 million rials when the shutdown began — compared with 820,000 rials a year ago — and the rial strengthened only slightly by yesterday.
Monday’s protests were the biggest since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. She was arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Witnesses said that traders shut their shops and asked others to do the same. On Sunday, protests were limited to two major mobile markets in downtown Tehran, where the demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans.
A trader, who did not give his name, told the Etemad that officials had offered no support to storekeepers battling soaring import costs.
“They didn’t even follow up on how the dollar price affected our lives,” he told the daily. “We had to decide to show our protest. With this dollar price, we can’t even sell a phone case, and the officials don’t care at all that our lives are run by selling mobile phones and accessories.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the government to take the protests seriously.
“I have asked the interior minister to listen to the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives so that the government can do everything in its power to resolve the problems and act responsibly,” he wrote on social media.
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also called for “necessary measures focused on increasing people’s purchasing power,” state television reported.
The rapid depreciation is compounding inflationary pressure, pushing up prices of food and other daily necessities, and further straining household budgets, a trend that could worsen with a gasoline price change introduced in the past few days.
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