Protests over Rial’s Plunge

The rial hit a low of 36,500 to the dollar on Wednesday morning before the foreign exchange shops were closed as part of a day of strike and protests spreading to Tehran Grand Bazaar by early afternoon. The bazaar and forex shops in Tehran remains closed and bazaaris are participating in seemingly spontaneous protests over the plunge of the rial and skyrocketing prices.

A merchant at Tehran Grand Bazaar shared his frustrations with Iran's state-run TV:

“The bazaaris do not know what to do. We buy a product at 4,000 touman, sell it at 4,500 touman, and when we go to replace it the next day, we have to pay 500 toumans more than we had sold it for!” (IRIB, 3 October)