Students join Iran protests, which have entered 3rd day

Iranians protested for a third straight day over mounting frustration with a spiraling economic crisis that has gripped the country ever since its war with Israel. On Tuesday, university students in Tehran joined the protests, which had began on Sunday.

Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan. On Tuesday, security forces and riot police were deployed at major intersections in Tehran and around some universities, according to AFP journalists, while some of the shops closed the previous day in the capital’s center had reopened. 

The student action came after Monday’s protests in central Tehran by shop-owners and a day ahead of the temporary closure of banks, schools and businesses in the capital and in most provinces to save energy during the bitterly cold weather.

The Iranian rial has dropped against the dollar and other world currencies — when the protests erupted on Sunday, the US dollar was trading at around 1.42 million rials, compared to 820,000 rials a year ago — forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.

Demonstrations erupted on Sunday at the city’s largest mobile phone market, before gaining momentum, though they remained limited in number and confined to central Tehran. The vast majority of shops elsewhere continued to operate as usual.

President Masoud Pezeshkian — who has less authority under Iran’s system of government than supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — met Tuesday with labour leaders and made proposals to tackle the economic crisis, according to press agency Mehr. 

“I have asked the interior minister to listen to the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives so that the government can do everything in its power to resolve the problems and act responsibly,” he said in a social media post.

According to state television, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also called for “necessary measures focused on increasing people’s purchasing power” but warned against foreign agents and government opponents attempting to exploit the protests.

On Monday, the government announced the replacement of the central bank governor with former economy and finance minister Abdolnasser Hemmati. Price fluctuations are paralyzing sales of some imported goods, with both sellers and buyers preferring to postpone transactions until the outlook becomes clearer.

In December, inflation in Iran stood at 52 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics. But this figure still falls far short of many price increases, especially for basic necessities.

The country’s economy, already battered by decades of Western sanctions, was further strained after the United Nations in late September reinstated international sanctions linked to the country’s nuclear program that were lifted 10 years ago.

Whether these protests will turn into something more remains to be seen. Iran has a long history of brutally suppressing protests and keeping their authoritarian regime in power.