Livelihood Protests and Recession Before Nowruz; Reports: Market is a 'Powder Keg'

As the value of the rial continues to plummet, livelihood protests in Iran are ongoing, featuring gatherings of telecommunications retirees, nurses' protests, strikes by oil industry workers, and protests by merchants against recession, as well as job applicants for the Ministry of Agriculture. The increase in livelihood protests across the country comes after aggressive statements by Ali Khamenei regarding negotiations with the United States, leading to further declines in the value of the rial. On Monday, March 20, the price of one US dollar reached 95,300 tomans, while the price of one gold coin was around 79 million tomans. According to reports received by VOA and published on social media on Monday, March 20, protests by retirees were taking place in at least the cities of Tabriz, Sanandaj, Hormozgan, Marivan, and Bijar. The Iranian Retirees Council reported that telecommunications retirees in Sanandaj chanted, 'This much injustice, a nation has never seen.' The executive regulation of Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, passed in 2010, concerns the assignable duties and how to purchase services from the private sector, stating that 'until the obstacles to assignment are removed,' the provision of services to the workforce remains the responsibility of the executive body, i.e., the government. However, 14 years after the approval of this regulation, and considering the repeated and ongoing protests of these retirees, it seems that neither the 'obstacles to assignment' have been removed nor has the executive body fulfilled its duties towards the protesters. Weekly protests by telecommunications retirees have been ongoing for months every Monday. The failure to update welfare allowances in the years 2021 and 2022, management's disregard for the 1989 regulation, issues with supplementary insurance, and the non-payment of past claims at current rates are among the reasons for these retirees' protests. Additionally, a group of contract workers at the fourth phase of the South Pars refinery protested against 'wage suppression.' According to reports from the Telegram channel Civil Protest Market, some merchants in Gonabad gathered in front of the local police station in protest against 'harassment by the enforcement agency.' The report likens the market situation in Gonabad to a 'powder keg' waiting for a spark. This trade source also noted the recession in the shoe market in Isfahan, reporting that several merchants in the Chaharbagh shoe market protested against the market slump. A video report shows one of Iran's markets, where the narrator states that shops are playing beautiful music, but there are no customers to listen. A citizen report from Abhar also indicates a market slump in this city in Qazvin province. The narrator in this video report mentions the market's recession and the emptiness of shops, stating: 'The market situation in Abhar, 10 days before Nowruz, is the state of our business this year.' On the same day, a group of nurses and staff at the Mardani Azar Hospital in Tabriz gathered in protest against 'livelihood and legal issues.' The protesters chanted: 'The silence of every nurse is a betrayal to their colleague.' Additionally, a group of job applicants for the Ministry of Agriculture protested against the hiring of fewer personnel than announced in front of the Employment Affairs Organization. The protesters stated that according to the exam booklet, 19,000 people were supposed to be hired, but 'only 10,000 were ultimately recruited.' Job applicants for the Ministry of Agriculture also gathered on March 12 in front of the Presidential Office in Tehran. Furthermore, a group of employees at Tehran University protested on Sunday against 'low wages and minimal welfare facilities' on 16 Azar Street. This protest was against 'unfair and unequal wage increases' among employees in various departments of the university. The expansion of occupational protests by various groups, including retirees, workers from different industries, teachers, financial victims, and nurses and healthcare workers, indicates an increase in livelihood problems in Iran and the indifference of the Islamic Republic officials. The continuous fall of the national currency against foreign currencies and the intensification of economic crises, along with the diminishing purchasing power of the people, have led to a warning recession in the markets just before Nowruz and simultaneously with Ramadan, which are two occasions considered for market prosperity in Iran. In recent days, just before Nowruz, a journalist and economic analyst inside the country told VOA that the economic recession has pushed the market towards closure, and most 'shops have been widely shut down'; a report confirmed by images presented from the market.