Protests erupted in Tehran’s bazaars on Sunday, December 28, 2025, as Iran’s currency plunged by more than 7 percent in a single day. The U.S. dollar surged to 1.44 million rials, effectively halting retail and wholesale activity in the capital’s main markets and disrupting trade between Tehran’s warehouses and other cities.
Videos circulating on social media showed merchants shutting their shops and marching through the bazaars, chanting slogans such as “Shut it down, shut it down,” and “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid—we are all together.” By late afternoon, there were no confirmed reports of clashes with security forces. Protesters spilled into surrounding streets, chanting slogans and calling on security personnel to side with them.
Videos circulating on social media showed merchants shutting their shops and marching through the bazaars.
Foreign currencies have roughly doubled in value against the rial over the course of 2025, driving prices sharply higher. Iran relies heavily on imports for essential goods, including grain and medicine, leaving domestic prices highly sensitive to currency swings. Many food items have recorded triple-digit inflation in recent months.
The impact has been devastating for ordinary workers. Monthly wages now average barely $100, far below the poverty line. Government agencies have long acknowledged that a household of 3.5 people needs at least $450 a month to meet basic needs. Meat and protein-rich dairy products have become largely unaffordable for much of the population.
The growing strain has also reverberated through parliament. One lawmaker described the economic situation as forming a “dangerous front” and warned, “I seek refuge with God from the wrath of the people.”
Debate over next year’s budget continued, with senior officials openly acknowledging severe foreign-currency constraints. A deputy head of the Planning and Budget Organization said the government’s oil revenues had already been exhausted in the first eight months of the year, confirming that Tehran has been forced to draw on the National Development Fund to cover part of its foreign-currency needs and imports of essential goods.
At the same session, Hossein-Ali Hajideligani, an influential lawmaker, disclosed that $6.7 billion in foreign currency from oil sales has not been returned to the country by entities affiliated with the Oil Ministry. He said the identities of the companies and individuals involved are known and warned that parliament may move toward impeachment proceedings against the oil minister if the issue remains unresolved. He also pointed to serious ambiguities surrounding the guarantees obtained from these entities.
Tehran has been forced to draw on the National Development Fund to cover part of its foreign-currency needs and imports of essential goods.
Economic tensions dominated parliamentary exchanges. Hassan Samsami, a member of the Economic Commission, attributed the currency shortage and the rial’s collapse to the failure of many non-oil exporters to repatriate export earnings. Lawmakers clashed over inflation and the surge in prices, with a representative from Dehloran asking President Masoud Pezeshkian whether he could “hear the crushing sound of the people’s footsteps.”
In response, Pezeshkian acknowledged an acute budget shortfall and challenged lawmakers to explain how the government should secure the funds needed to pay public-sector salaries.
Although President Donald Trump announced the restoration of “maximum pressure” on Iran in February 2025, the United States has not succeeded in sharply curtailing Iranian oil exports to China. Still, sanctions pressure combined with a global oil glut has significantly reduced revenues. Washington has demanded that Tehran halt uranium enrichment and end support for armed proxies in the region in exchange for sanctions relief. Despite face-to-face meetings in the first half of the year, Iran refused to comply.
The diplomatic deadlock culminated in a major Israeli air campaign in June, followed by U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. It remains unclear whether Washington or Israel seek regime change in Iran, but the combined economic and military pressure is increasingly pushing the country toward serious internal upheaval. Many opponents of the Islamic Republic believe sustained external pressure is essential to forcing meaningful change.
