Iran Focus
Negotiations between representatives of gold and jewellery traders and government officials collapsed Saturday, resulting in the resumption of a strike at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.
The goldsmiths, gold traders and jewellers’ quarter of the bazaar as well as those in Sabz-e Meidan and Farvardin, Khordad bazaars and other jewellery stores have once again gone on strike. They say they will continue until their demands are met.
They are demanding the government annul new laws on 3 percent Value Added Tax (VAT).
The strike has not yet spread to the capital as a whole.
Tehran’s chief prosecutor earlier this month warned that the judiciary would prosecute anyone who “disturbs public order” by closing the bazaar.
Iranian intelligence agents have since arrested the director of Tehran’s Gold and Jewellery Union and a number of retailers.
The strike began last month at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.
