Tehran's Grand Bazaar has closed as thousands of traders and shopkeepers protested against soaring prices and the collapsing value of the Iranian rial. The demonstration, the largest in the capital since 2012, saw shops shuttered and crowds marching towards parliament, where riot police fired tear gas to disperse them.
The protests reflect growing anger over the currency's dramatic fall, exacerbated by the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May. On the unofficial market, the dollar now trades at up to 90,000 rials, compared with 65,000 before Donald Trump's announcement and 42,890 at the end of last year.
Authorities had attempted to stabilise the rial in April by unifying exchange rates and banning trading below the official rate of 42,000 rials to the dollar. However, dealers say the government has failed to meet demand for hard currency. Separately, mobile phone traders at two shopping centres went on strike on Sunday, returning to work after the communications minister promised help accessing foreign currency.
This is the second wave of economic unrest this year. In late December and early January, large-scale anti-government protests erupted in provincial cities and towns, though not in Tehran. The 2012 protests, also driven by economic hardship under international sanctions, ultimately led to a change in government and the start of nuclear negotiations. The 2015 deal lifted sanctions, but the US reimposition of penalties threatens to unravel the agreement.
