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Iran grapples with shrinking household buying power amid war-linked inflation
Inflation and currency weakness have undercut purchasing power as protesters took to the streets in all 31 provinces after prices surged late last year.
RFE/RL journalists report that Iranians are buying fewer items each week as inflation rises and purchasing power falls, with residents describing a shift from nonessential goods to only basic staples that are still becoming unaffordable.
The outlet says the economic strain comes as Iran enters a deeper downturn after years of sanctions and government mismanagement, and it argues the country has now been pushed toward economic collapse by a five-month-long war with the United States and Israel.
According to RFE/RL, spiraling inflation, a currency freefall, and deteriorating living conditions contributed to protests at the end of December, two months before the war began.
RFE/RL adds that hundreds of thousands of people across all 31 provinces demonstrated in anger toward leaders they blamed for the broader economic deterioration and the conflict’s fallout.