Gold Coin Price Hits 80 Million Tomans Amid Market Stagnation; Steel Shareholders Protest

As the price of gold coins approaches 80 million tomans and reports indicate a sluggish market ahead of the New Year, protests over economic conditions in Iran continued on Thursday with a gathering of shareholders from the National Industrial Group of Steel. According to the latest reports from financial markets in Iran on Thursday, March 23, the price of each gold coin has reached 79 million and 800 thousand tomans, while the price of the US dollar fluctuates around 95 thousand tomans. Based on a video shared on social media on Thursday, a group of shareholders from the National Industrial Group of Steel gathered in front of the National Bank in Ahvaz, chanting: "We will not leave until we get our rights." Protests in front of banks have also been ongoing in previous days, including a group of shareholders from 'Padideh Shandiz' who protested in front of Bank Saderat in Mashhad on Wednesday, March 22. Additionally, a group of farmers in Fars province held a protest in Shiraz against the "shutdown of agricultural wells." Amid warnings of water shortages and rationing in the coming months, protesting farmers have equated the ongoing power outages, which have lasted for months, with the "destruction of agriculture." With just a week until Nowruz, the economic difficulties have reduced citizens' purchasing power to the extent that, in addition to shrinking their tables, some Iranians have removed New Year's purchases from their household budgets. Numerous reports from markets in various Iranian cities show empty shops devoid of customers, including a video report on Thursday from a shopping center in Shiraz that was empty of buyers. Visual reports from different cities in Iran indicate economic stagnation and a sluggish market. Merchants say "there is no business," the market has "fallen into a winter sleep," and there is no "smell of Nowruz." Some observers have likened the market situation to a "powder keg" waiting for a "spark." The ongoing protests by retirees, workers in the oil and gas industries, steel and mining, teachers, investors, and healthcare workers, which have been on the rise in recent years, indicate increasing economic problems in Iran and the indifference of the Islamic Republic authorities. Iran's economic situation has faced multiple crises for years due to the policies of the Islamic Republic, including what Ali Khamenei calls "resistance economy," leading to the collapse of the national currency, rising inflation, and severe recession. Economist Mohammad Machin-Chian has attributed this situation to the "baseless idea" of the resistance economy proposed by the Supreme Leader, stating that this idea "failed before it even began and imposed heavy costs on citizens," with at least 10 million people in Iran falling below the poverty line. On the eve of Nowruz, a peak shopping season in Iran, a journalist and economic analyst inside the country told VOA that the economic recession has led to widespread shop closures, with most "stores being extensively shut down." This economic expert emphasized that "economic problems have reached infrastructure and energy shortages" and predicted that "given these issues, we will see widespread layoffs." The journalist also noted the intensification of the US maximum pressure policy on the Islamic Republic, stating: "Given the limitations on oil sales and the collapse of the rial's value, poverty will become more widespread."