Major food distributors in Tehran’s Molavi Bazaar, Southern Khayyam, and Qiyam Square shut down their shops and staged protests against rising prices, the increase in the dollar exchange rate, inflation, and high taxes.
According to images and videos shared on social media, Tehran merchants closed their shops and gathered in protest on February 4 against the rising dollar exchange rate, soaring prices, and high taxes.
Videos circulating on social media show major food distributors holding banners with slogans such as “Value-added tax on food items must be abolished.”
Tehran merchants shut down their shops and protested rising prices
In recent days, as prices have continued to rise and food costs have remained high in Iran, many citizens have voiced their protests against the new wave of inflation.
As prices continue to soar and new records are set in Iran’s currency and gold markets, on Tuesday, February 4, the price of a new-design gold coin exceeded 630 million rials (approximately $750). On January 25, the selling price of the same coin had reached 612 million rials (around $728.5).
Protests in Iran: A New Wave of Popular Anger Threatens the Stability of the Regime
Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s administration in the United States, the price of gold coins in Iran has increased by approximately 70 million rials.
Amid growing protests by various social groups and concerns expressed by Iranian regime officials, Valiollah Bayati, spokesman for the Parliamentary Commission on Internal Affairs and Councils, announced the approval of a ban on demonstrations and rallies in “sensitive and security-related locations.”
At the same time, on February 3, regime officials held an emergency meeting at the presidential institution, attended by the heads of the three branches of government.
The growing number of protest gatherings by workers, retirees, and pensioners has heightened the regime’s fears of escalating protests and the potential overthrow of the Iranian regime.
