Continued Livelihood Protests; An Economist: We Are Witnessing 'Economic Collapse'

As the price of the dollar approaches 96,000 tomans in the Iranian market, discussions are ongoing regarding the determination of the minimum wage for the year 1404. Meanwhile, essential goods are rapidly becoming more expensive, and households are shrinking, leading to ongoing livelihood protests. According to the website Navasan, which tracks currency and gold rates in the Iranian market, on Wednesday, March 8, each US dollar was sold for 95,800 tomans. The price of each gold coin, known as the 'Imami design', is approximately 76,500,000 tomans. Concurrently, livelihood protests in Iran on Wednesday, March 8, continued with strikes in parts of the Tehran market, a march by applicants for national housing in Kerman, and a gathering of technical inspection center employees in Pasteur Square, Tehran. According to a video shared on social media, a group of national housing applicants in Kerman gathered in front of the governor's office to protest against 'the corrupt managers' who, despite receiving money, 'have not delivered a house for years and are asking for more money.' According to Farshad Momeni, an economist in Iran, in the housing sector alone, where applicants have repeatedly held protests in various regions of the country, 'the growth in housing prices from Esfand 96 to Mordad 1403 has been about 1700 percent.' Additionally, based on reports from some citizen and professional sources on Wednesday, March 8, protests were taking place in parts of the Tehran market, where a group of food and dry goods merchants protested against pressures from the enforcement agency, closing their shops and gathering. The Telegram channel for civil market protests published images of the strike in Amin-al-Sultan Square, where the narrator stated that 'most wholesalers and businesses are closed,' emphasizing: 'You cannot regulate the economy of the country by force; they need to think about the people.' Furthermore, a group of employees from technical inspection centers held a protest in Pasteur Square, Tehran, against the transfer of technical inspections to the municipality. According to the report, the protesters stated that the municipality 'should be the supervisory body itself,' but 'they change the instructions' and 'hold meetings on their own,' transferring technical inspections to this entity. Arash Ghafari, an advocate for small and home-based businesses, likened the process of determining workers' wages by government officials to a 'circus' and stated on the social media platform X that there is 'a few days of fighting over a slight difference in the meager wages of workers,' and 'in those few days of fighting, everything becomes 20 percent more expensive.' Journalist Asal Dadashloo also shared an experience from the market, where a seller suggested she buy cleaning supplies 'that are still at the old price,' stating that 'cleaning supplies have increased four times this year,' while workers' and employees' wages only change once a year, making it seem as if 'the citizen is from somewhere else.' Siamak Javadi, an economist, also wrote on X: 'We are undoubtedly witnessing an economic collapse process.' According to him, 'this collapse has long begun and has now entered a phase that is no longer deniable. The puzzle of the Islamic Republic's economy shows nothing but this.' The expansion of protests among various groups, including retirees, workers from various industries, teachers, defrauded individuals, and nurses and healthcare workers, indicates the increasing livelihood problems in Iran and the indifference of Islamic Republic officials. Meanwhile, the continuous rise in the price of the dollar and gold has made financial markets in Iran more turbulent than ever, and in this regard, Hassan Mansour, an economist, told Voice of America that investment in Iran is impossible due to the lack of financial transparency.