Iran Economy

Two more killed in Iran protests over economic crisis, toll rises to 10

Violence surrounding protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic's ailing economy killed two other people, authorities said Saturday, raising the death toll in the demonstrations to at least 10 as they showed no signs of stopping. The new deaths follow US President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran violently kills peaceful protesters, the United States will come to their rescue. While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response from officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. The weeklong protests, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The deaths overnight into Saturday ...

At least seven killed as protests over ailing economy widen across Iran

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran's ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic's rural provinces, with at least seven people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said. The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran's theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, two on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in four cities, largely home to Iran's Lur ethnic group. The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The most-intense violence appeared to strike Azna, a city in Iran's Lorestan province, some

Protests spread across Iran with demands to overthrow the govt: Here's why

A sharp fall in the rial, soaring prices and economic uncertainty have sparked protests across Iran, with demonstrators in several cities calling for regime change

Iran raises gasoline prices for first time since deadly protests in 2019

Iran introduced a new pricing tier on Saturday for its nationally subsidised gasoline, attempting to rein in spiralling costs for the first time since a price hike in 2019 that sparked nationwide protests and a crackdown that reportedly killed over 300 people. Cheap gasoline has been viewed for generations as a birthright in Iran, sparking mass demonstrations as far back as 1964 when a price increase forced the shah to put military vehicles on the streets to replace those of striking taxi drivers. But Iran's theocracy faces a growing squeeze from the country's rapidly depreciating rial currency and economic sanctions imposed due to Tehran's nuclear program. That has made the cost of having some of the world's cheapest gasoline at a few pennies per gallon that much more expensive. However, the government's hesitant move toward increasing prices likely signals it wants to avoid any confrontation with the nation's exhausted public after Israel launched a 12-day war on the country in ..

Chabahar centre 93% complete, ready for satellite launch: Iran minister

The Chabahar centre, dedicated to medium-heavy liquid-fueled launch vehicles, is Iran's national space launch site and one of several bases currently under construction

France, UK, Germany likely to restore UN sanctions on Iran next month

The United Kingdom, France and Germany have agreed to restore tough UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no concrete progress on a nuclear deal, two European diplomats said on Tuesday. The three countries' ambassadors to the United Nations met Tuesday at Germany's UN Mission to discuss a possible Iranian deal and reimposing the sanctions. The matter also came up in a phone call on Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the three countries, according to two US officials. The State Department said after the call that the four had spoken about ensuring Iran does not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon. The officials and diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The UK, France and Germany are part of an agreement reached with Iran in 2015 to rein in its nuclear programme, from which President Donald Trump withdrew the US during his first term, insisting it wasn't tough enough. Under the acco

Analysts see crude at $150 on panic buying if Israel-Iran tensions escalate

The attacks, according to analysts at Rabobank International, expose wider risks to crude and natural gas supplies from the region despite the initial quick reversal of price gains for both markets

Iran using digital surveillance & vigilantism to crush dissent: UN report

The UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission released a report on Friday, stating that Iran is making "concerted state efforts to stifle dissent

Iran loosens import curbs on cars, iPhones in bid to mask its economic woes

All architecture student Amirhossein Azizi wanted for his 19th birthday was the latest iPhone and for Iran's cash-strapped theocracy, it was just the gift they needed as well. Just buying a top-of-the-line iPhone 16 Pro Max in Iran's capital cost him on the day 1.6 billion rials ($1,880). An additional 450 million rials ($530) is required for import fees and registration on government-managed mobile phone networks. I'm very happy to own one of the most expensive phones in the country," Azizi said. His father, Mohammad, laughed nearby and added: Maybe if they had to earn the money themselves, they wouldn't be so quick to spend it. The purchase is only possible after Iran lifted import bans on expensive goods like foreign cars and new iPhones, yielding to public demand for the products while also trying to mask the dire straits of its economy. While being described as a way to boost Iran's much-vaunted resistance economy," the decisions trapped Iranians into buying more affordable .

With Trump in office, Iranians mark anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution

Tens of thousands of Iranians marked the anniversary of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the first such rally since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and restarted his maximum pressure campaign targeting Tehran. The annual commemoration of the end of the rule of the American-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the creation of Iran's Shiite theocracy comes this year as deep uncertainty lingers across the country. Iran faces crushing sanctions wrecking its economy and the threat of more coming from Trump, even as the American president suggests he wants to reach a deal with Tehran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday criticised proposed talks with the United States and described negotiations with America as "not intelligent, wise or honourable. Khamenei also suggested that there should be no negotiations with such a government, though stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage

Trump calls for new nuclear deal immediately allowing Iran to 'prosper'

The US has long accused Tehran of using a decades-old civilian nuclear program to disguise ambitions to develop weapons, a claim repeatedly denied by Iran

Iranian court sentenced death penalty to singer Tataloo for blasphemy

The court found Tataloo guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammed and sentenced him to death for blasphemy. Tataloo, however, has the option to appeal again

Iran braces for Trump takeover with economy buckling from sanctions

As Trump prepares for a second term as US president, all eyes are on whether he will revive his so-called maximum pressure policy against Iran that came to mark his first spell

Iran's currency falls to all-time low as Donald Trump claims US presidency

Iran's currency, the rial, fell on Wednesday to an all-time low as former President Donald Trump was on the verge of clinching the US presidency again. The rial traded at 703,000 rials to the dollar. In 2015, at the time of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, it was at 32,000 to USD 1. On July 30, the day that Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in and started his term, the rate was 584,000 to USD 1. Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, sparking years of tensions between the countries that persist today. The slide comes as Iran's economy has struggled for years under crippling international sanctions over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, which now enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels. Pezeshkian, elected after a helicopter crash killed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi in May, came to power on a promise to reach a deal to ease Western sanctions. However, Iran's government has for weeks been trying to downplay the effect

Khamenei pledges 'crushing response' to US, Israel for actions against Iran

Sharing a post on X, Iran's supreme leader wrote, 'United States of America and the Zionist regime will definitely get a crushing response for what they do against #Iran and the #Resistance Front'

Locked in Mideast wars, battered by sanctions, Iran wary over US election

America's presidential election next week comes just after Iran marks the 45th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis and for many, tensions between Tehran and Washington feel just as high as they did then. Iran remains locked in the Mideast wars roiling the region, with its allies militant groups and fighters of its self-described Axis of Resistance battered as Israel presses its war in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas and its invasion of Lebanon amid devastating attacks against Hezbollah. At the same time, Iran still appears to be assessing damage from Israel's strikes on the Islamic Republic last Saturday in response to two Iranian ballistic missile attacks. Iran's currency, the rial, hovers near record lows against the dollar, battered by international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme of enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. In public spaces, women still openly defy Iran's mandatory law on the headscarf, or hijab, a result of the mass .

IAEA chief shows willingness from Iran to re-engage on nuclear file

Iran has stepped up nuclear work since 2019, after then-US President Donald Trump abandoned an agreement reached under his predecessor Barack Obama

You have officially become Iran's useful idiots: PM Netanyahu to protestors

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday slammed Iran for funding and supporting groups against Israel and asserted that defeating the brutal enemies requires both courage and clarity. For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this buildingnot that many, but they're thereand throughout the city. Well, I have a message for these protesters: When the Tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiots, Netanyahu said. It's amazing, absolutely amazing. Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming 'Gays for Gaza'. They might as well hold up signs saying 'Chickens for KFC'. These protesters chant 'From the river to the sea'. But many don't have a clue what river and what sea they're talking about. They not only get an F in geography, they get an F in history. They call Israel a colonialist ..

Reformist Pezeshkian wins Iran elections, promises to reach out to west

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran's runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian's modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels with enough of a stockpile to produce several nuclear weapons if it chose. A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million in Friday's election. Overall, Iran's Interior Ministry said 30 million people ...

Reformist Pezeshkian wins Iran's presidential runoff election, beats Jalili

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran's runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian's modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million in Friday's election.