Angry Iranians ask Prez Rouhani to control inflation, reboot economy plans

Stagnation and inequality were central to the grievances that erupted a few weeks ago into Iran's worst unrest for a decade

When he was studying in Tehran, Abbas would catch a pre-dawn train in from the provinces. A few scenes glimpsed through the window are etched in his mind: street-sweepers huddled around fires, men curled up under blankets in front of closed shops.

Student life didn’t often take him to the affluent downtown, where glitzy malls sell Western-branded clothes and watches.

On the weekends Abbas would head back to the northwestern city of Zanjan, famous for hand-made knives and elaborately decorated shoes. The extremes of poverty and wealth on display in the capital were much less apparent in his hometown.

But