The protests that erupted in Tehran on December 28 and quickly spread across Iran were triggered by a specific grievance: the collapse of the country’s currency, the rial. Currency devaluation in Iran is never merely a technical matter; it quickly drives up prices and reduces purchasing power, especially given that many wages are set annually. In December, as the rial’s value fell by 16% – for a total decline of roughly 84 percent over the past year – food inflation reached an annual rate of 72 percent, nearly double its recent average. These developments follow decades of economic isolation. Starting in 2011, sanctions on Iranian oil sharply reduced the country’s foreign-exchange earnings and slowed GDP growth from a respectable 5-9 percent annually in the early 2000s to less than 3 percent thereafter. The loss of oil revenues created chronic budget deficits that the government has financed through monetary expansion, fueling inflation. Iran’s economic situation deteriorated further last year, when sanctions gave way to open confrontation. While the 12-day war with Israel
The economic roots of Iran’s protests
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