Iran’s president calls for dialogue with protesting shopkeepers as currency crisis and inflation spark demonstrations over economic hardship in Tehran.
TEHRAN: Iran’s president has urged his government to listen to the “legitimate demands” of protesters, state media reported.
The call follows demonstrations by shopkeepers in Tehran over severe economic hardship and a plummeting national currency.
Shopkeepers in the capital shut their stores after the embattled rial hit new lows on the unofficial market.
Photos from the Fars news agency showed tear gas being used to disperse protesters earlier in the week.
By Tuesday, most shops and cafes in Tehran’s city centre were open again with antiriot police watching main squares.
The US dollar was trading at around 1.42 million rials when the shutdown began, compared to 820,000 rials a year ago.
One unnamed trader complained to the Etemad newspaper that officials offered no support to storekeepers battling soaring import costs.
“They didn’t even follow up on how the dollar price affected our lives,” he said.
President Masoud Pezeshkian asked the interior minister to engage in dialogue with protesters’ representatives.
“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 posted on social media.
Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also called for measures focused on “increasing people’s purchasing power”.
Price fluctuations are paralysing sales of some imported goods, with sellers and buyers postponing transactions.
Iranian Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei called for “the swift punishment of those responsible for currency fluctuations”.
The government has also announced the replacement of the central bank governor.
“By decision of the president, Abdolnasser Hemmati will be appointed governor of the Central Bank,” a presidency official posted.
Hemmati is a former economy minister dismissed by parliament in March over the rial’s sharp depreciation.
In December, official year-on-year inflation stood at 52%, a figure that falls short of actual price increases for basic necessities.
The economy is battered by decades of Western sanctions and recently reinstated UN sanctions linked to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Western powers and Israel accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
