Reviews indicate an explosive surge in the dollar price to over 1.48 million rials amid the protests.
Iranian currency and gold rate websites reported on Wednesday morning, January 7, that amid the expansion of nationwide uprising and protests across Iran, the dollar price had risen to over 1.48 million rials.
This explosive surge in the dollar and the devaluation of the rial comes as the dollar price had fallen to 1.35 million rials last week following the introduction of Abdolnaser Hemmati as the new head of the Central Bank of Iran, a key financial institution under the Iranian regime.
January 7: Regime security forces clash with people in Mashhad #IranProtests #FreeIran2026 #IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/XIy5e5eVH7
— Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) January 7, 2026
With market protests intensifying and spreading to various cities across the country, it now appears that currency control has slipped out of the government’s hands.
According to the latest reports at the time of writing, on Wednesday the euro rose to over 1.73 million rials and the British pound climbed to more than 2 million rials.
At a rate of 1.48 million rials per dollar, a worker’s total monthly income barely reaches 102 usd.
The Iranian regime has so far tried to control the situation by promising to provide food vouchers in an effort to quell the protests, but it has not succeeded. In recent days, the government announced that under this plan, one million tomans (about 10 million rials, approximately 7 dollars) has been allocated per person, and that the government has “provisionally deposited the credit for four months for the people.”
According to state-run media, the plan is intended to provide 11 basic goods, and “people can use this credit to purchase dairy products including milk, cheese, and yogurt; red meat; eggs; cooking oil; pasta; rice; sugar cubes; sugar; and legumes at more than 200,000 stores.”
However, experts say such measures put additional pressure on markets and, in addition to deepening economic stagnation, will lead to higher prices for essential goods.
January 7: People in Qazvin began protests #IranProtests #FreeIran2026 #IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/b5ugcYXcDh
— Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) January 7, 2026
Currently, according to some media outlets inside Iran, cooking oil has become unavailable in most stores, and some shops are selling it at three times the previous price.
In this context, the Telegram channel Eterazebazar reported that a five-kilogram container of cooking oil has risen from about 5.6 million rials to nearly 20 million rials.
The government’s actions to extinguish the flames of protests come as on the eleventh day of nationwide protests, protest gatherings and strikes continued unabated.
According to incoming reports and videos shared on social media, shops in several cities across the country, especially in parts of Tehran, were closed and on strike on Wednesday.
The ongoing protests initially began with Tehran bazaar merchants protesting sharp currency fluctuations and the economic crisis but quickly expanded to other cities and turned into anti-regime protests with slogans calling for the overthrow of the Iranian regime.
Last night, control of the two cities of Abdanan and Malekshahi in Ilam Province slipped out of the hands of security forces.
