Biggest since 2022: Massive protests rock Iran; Tehran shopkeepers shut shops — what’s fuelling the unrest

A large number of people took to the streets as protests erupted in Iran after the country’s currency registered a historic low against the US dollar.

Rallies were held in other major cities, including Isfahan in central Iran, Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast. In some parts of Tehran, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

As the protests gathered pace, Iran's Central Bank chief Mohammad Reza Farzin resigned.

Monday's protests were the biggest since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. She was arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly, the Associated Press reported.

According to the report, traders shut their shops on Monday and asked others to do the same. The semi-official ILNA news agency said many businesses stopped trading, even though some kept their shops open.

'Listen to the legitimate demands'
Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian called on his government to listen to protesters' “legitimate demands”.

“I have asked the interior minister to listen to the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives so that the government can do everything in its power to resolve the problems and act responsibly,” Pezeshkian said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

What’s fuelling the unrest
This comes after Iran's rial plunged to 1.42 million to the dollar. On Monday, it traded at 1.38 million to the dollar.

The rapid depreciation is compounding inflationary pressure, pushing up prices of food and other daily necessities and further straining household budgets — a trend that could worsen with a gasoline price change introduced in recent days.

Reports in official Iranian media that the government plans to increase taxes in the Iranian New Year beginning March 21 have added to concerns.

Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that lifted international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on the country’s nuclear programme. That deal unravelled after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States in 2018.

Interestingly, merchants at the market played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought Islamists to power.