The black market rate for Iran’s currency hit a record low of 90,000 rials against the US dollar on Sunday, before recovering to around 81,000 today. The immediate cause of the sudden plunge remains unclear, but the currency has been under rising pressure this year, especially following the United States’ withdrawal from the nuclear deal. The instability in exchange rates on the black market triggered protests among shopkeepers in Tehran's grand bazaar. Read More
quoting Abbas Milani via NPR
Iran's capital has been racked by protests this week over a plunge in the value of the country's currency, the rial. Crowds at one point shut down Tehran's sprawling Grand Bazaar, an economic center and a place where the 1979 revolution gained footing.
quoting Abbas Milani via WNCW
Iran's capital has been racked by protests this week over a plunge in the value of the country's currency, the rial. Crowds at one point shut down Tehran's sprawling Grand Bazaar, an economic center and a place where the 1979 revolution gained footing.
- Protests among Iranian merchants will continue and may expand due to the regime’s inability to resolve key economic issues. Thousands of Iranian merchants in various cities participated in protests since June 25 over high prices and the rapid devaluation of the Iranian rial. The Iranian rial has devalued by more than 200 percent since October 2017. [Read Mike Saidi’s analysis of the widespread anti-regime protests in late-December 2017 in “Iranian Anti-Regime Protests and Security Flaws: A Dataset.”]