Iranians Demand their Fix Economy: In Tehran’s working-class neighborhood around Imam Hussein Square, the side streets and alleys are lined with secondhand stores and small repair shops selling all kinds of refurbished household goods. But with little to do, most shoppers stand idle in front of their stores.
Abbas, a 60-year-old man, and his son Asghar, 32, sat in two secondhand, faux brocade armchairs they sell. Asked about his profession, Abbas, who did not want his surname used for fear of drawing the government’s attention, looked incredulous.
“Just look down the street,” he said. “Business is terrible. There are no customers, people are financially weak now, they have no money.”
After years of US sanctions fueling chronic inflation worsened by Iran’s economic mismanagement and corruption, Iranians increasingly feel trapped in a downward economic spiral.
Virtually everyone interviewed during six days of reporting in the Iranian capital described a pervasive sense of losing ground economically, of becoming window shoppers rather than buyers, of patching machinery used in factories because replacements are too expensive, of substituting lentils for sheep.
Even in Tehran’s upscale Pasdaran neighborhood, where chic cafes serve croissants and cappuccinos and the streets are lined with elegant, Art Deco apartment buildings, most Iranians, regardless of their political views, have one demand for their next president, who will be chosen. In the run-up to Friday’s election: Fix the economy.
When asked how her business was doing, Roya, a 25-year-old woman with a warm smile who runs a small cosmetics shop in a market north of Tehran, responded in one word: “Little.”
Yet, with shelves full of moisturizers, mascaras, blushes and serums, the shop seems to be thriving. So what’s missing?
“There’s less, less of everything: fewer customers, they buy less, and imported cosmetics come from fewer places,” she said, after asking not to use her last name because she feared reprisals from her boss or the government. was
French and German brands prized by sophisticated Iranians have become too expensive for all but the very rich, she said.
Even on Iran’s gridlocked streets there is a great variety of missing cars. Some are older products from joint ventures with European and Japanese manufacturers, or copies of them produced locally, after restrictions were eased.
When President Donald J. While Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran negotiated with Western powers and reimposed restrictions on banking and oil sales, much foreign investment also went away.
At the same time, the trappings of wealth are still readily apparent. fancy consumer goods including iPhones and designer clothes; Italian kitchenware and the latest German lamps are for sale in the malls and boutiques of northern Tehran. Building projects are underway in many neighborhoods. And despite unrelenting sanctions, the government has managed to expand its sophisticated uranium enrichment program.
This partly stems from the Iranian people’s perception of declining economic conditions compared to the period from the 1990s to 2010, when the middle class could see their real incomes increase every year.
Since then, outside of a small group of well-connected clerical and military people, along with industrialists, developers and high-ranking professionals who dominate the heights of the economy, Iranians’ incomes and wealth have been dragged down by inflation and a weak currency.
While there were about 8,000 Iranian rials to the dollar in 2000, that number is now closer to 42,000 at the official rate and 60,000 on the street. Inflation has eased, but it is still running About 37 percent annuallyA rate that would be unimaginable in the United States or Europe—according to the International Monetary Fund.
Despite severe headwinds since 2010, when the Obama administration tightened sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, the country has managed to eke out economic growth of about 1.7 percent a year. Economists say the growth is mainly due to increased oil production and sales A growing market in China, according to the Congressional Research Service.
“Sanctions have cast a long shadow over Iran’s economy, but they have not led to an economic collapse,” said Esfandyar Batmangelij, head of the Bourse and Bazaar Foundation, an economic think tank focused on the Middle East and Central Asia. But achieving slim growth despite sanctions, he added, is little comfort to Iranians who are painfully aware of “how much is left on the table.”
The currency’s devaluation is so severe that when foreigners exchange $100 for Iranian rials, they are handed several thick bills so heavy and bulky that they have to be carried in briefcases or backpacks. The government has begun issuing a new currency, the Tomam, officially equal to 10 riyals.
“Only those who have dollars are comfortable,” said Wahid Arafati, 36, as he sat outside his small cafe in a cobbled square, drinking espresso and fresh-squeezed carrot juice with friends.
While middle-class people talk about the cost of housing and how young people are putting off marriage because they can’t afford to buy a house, less fortunate Iranians, who live on meager paychecks from month to month and spend an average of 70 percent of their income on rent , they face many difficulties. bad situation
During last Friday’s presidential vote at Masjid Lorzadeh, a less affluent neighborhood in southern Tehran, many spoke angrily about US sanctions and what they have done to Iran, but also pleaded that the next Iranian president listen to their plight.
“I want the president to listen to my problems,” said Meena, a 62-year-old woman who, like most of the women there, was dressed in a black, head-to-toe sheet. “I live in a basement, I have kids, they can’t find work, I need surgery, but I’m here to vote anyway,” she said triumphantly, as she headed for the ballot box.
No limit is enforced on how much landlords can raise rents, leaving people like Meena constantly worried about whether they will be able to afford their homes.
The woman next to him, Fatima, 48, a housewife, was bitterly angry, particularly at the United States for sanctions, which she blames for Iran’s economic problems. “These problems, sanctions are created by our enemies but they will not succeed,” she said. “We will stab our enemies in the eyes.”
Abbas, the chair salesman, has a different take on the economy. “Look, Iran is a rich country, but that wealth is not going into the hands of the people,” he said. “I don’t know where it goes, I’m not the government, maybe they know where it goes, but every year it gets worse.”
“No president will help,” he added. “The last president, when he came to power three years ago, a kilo of meat was 100,000 tomes. Now it is 600,000 tomes.
A few doors down, in the workshop where the chairs that Abbas sells have been refurbished, the mood is even worse.
In the back, two workers were sweating on the cushions they were recovering from, working quickly and wordlessly. They said they were educated, but after years of declining fortunes, were unable to provide for their families, and were forced to take whatever jobs they could find.
A third man, Mohammad Reza Mohran Zahr, 36, said he had finished high school and was set to go to college, hoping to become a pilot. But his father’s carpet store was facing bankruptcy, so he quit his studies to help out.
Now he says his only hope is to emigrate to Germany.
“Many of my friends have left the country. It’s hard to go legally, but what choice do we have? he said. “I earn part-time, maybe $220 a month, and $180 goes to rent. I am single, how can I get married? Iran is not a good place to make money.
Sedighe Borromand, 62, a school janitor, though barely more than four feet tall, was moved close to tears as he described how his dwindling ability to afford anything but shelter and food ripped into the fabric of his life.
“My daughter died eight months ago because I didn’t have the money to buy the medicines she needed,” Ms Borromond said. “She had lung problems and could not breathe, I saw her panting. And my first son had a heart problem and died too. He had a child, and I give him money for child support.
“My third son was a recruit but he has some physical disability and we take care of him,” she added, nodding to her husband, who works in the same school.
“We ask politicians to end the suffering.” iranians demand their fix economy