Iranians are describing an increasingly difficult struggle to afford food and other necessities as inflation, unemployment, a collapsing currency and the U.S. blockade squeeze an economy already damaged by months of conflict and internal unrest.
“I’m in survival mode,” a 33-year-old cryptocurrency trader from western Iran, identified by the alias “Nima,” told The National.
Nima said his grocery expenses have tripled from their already elevated levels before the conflict with the United States began, while some individual products have risen by as much as 400 percent.
The increases have forced him to “choose between the essentials and everything else,” he said.
And Nima is in a relatively advantageous position. His cryptocurrency trading has provided him with access to foreign currency reserves that many Iranians do not possess.
For workers paid primarily in Iranian rials, the numbers are considerably more punishing.
Iran’s annual inflation rate has climbed above 80 percent, while unemployment reached a four-year high of 9.1 percent in June. The rial has fallen to approximately 1.88 million to the U.S. dollar, severely reducing the purchasing power of people whose earnings and savings remain denominated in the Iranian currency.
The economic problems were aggravated by the upheaval that began in January. The Iranian government imposed an Internet blackout lasting roughly three months amid widespread protests and the regime’s violent crackdown, disrupting businesses and workers dependent upon online commerce.
“Every tomorrow has been worse than the day before,” Nima told The National. “If you can’t save, can’t buy what you want and don’t have a predictable future, then what’s the point of working any more?”
Other Iranians interviewed by foreign media described taking multiple jobs simply to cover ordinary expenses. For some younger people, leaving Iran rather than building a career there has become the more attractive objective.
“This isn’t life, to worry every day if you can feed your family,” one Iranian told The National.
A 26-year-old Tehran resident identified as Saeed described similarly bleak employment prospects in an interview with Al Jazeera. Despite holding a master’s degree in Persian literature, he said he was searching for manual work to earn enough to live.
“You take one look at the condition of job postings you can find online or in person, and you will understand why some young people feel like it’s not even worth it going out for work,” Saeed said. “But the expenses don’t go away.”
He said some employers demand 12-hour shifts as many as six days per week without providing insurance.
“They also come up with all sorts of excuses to deduct pay whenever they can, knowing you have limited options,” he said.
Against those accounts, Iranian officials are presenting a considerably more reassuring picture of the country’s food supply.
Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri-Ghezeljeh said Monday that Iran’s food security remains “intact” despite the U.S. blockade.
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Nouri-Ghezeljeh said “85 percent of Iran’s food production is supplied domestically, while measures have been taken to secure the remaining imports.”
He also reported significant increases in agricultural production, including gains of 19 percent in poultry and eggs, 18 percent in greenhouse production and 62 percent in seedlings. He said Iran had secured three million metric tons of imported food despite wartime restrictions.
Those assertions concern the availability and production of food, however, while the Iranians interviewed by foreign news organizations described a different problem: whether ordinary people can still afford what is available.
President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a more troubled assessment of Iran’s overall finances last week.
“We could sell oil, and now we can’t,” Pezeshkian said. “They have also struck and destroyed some of our factories, so we can’t levy taxes in the same way either.”
His government is considering fuel quotas and price increases as it confronts the growing gap between domestic production and consumption.
That presents its own danger. More expensive or restricted fuel would impose additional costs on businesses already struggling with inflation and declining economic activity.
Even officials inside the government have begun publicly acknowledging the pressure.
Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref reportedly described inflation as “painful” and said authorities must prepare for “worst-case scenarios.” Executive Vice President Mohammad Ja’far warned that growing portions of the economy are moving into a “shadow market,” while Food and Drug Organization chief Mehdi Pirsalehi said prices for many essential medicines have doubled.
