We've seen this scenario before.
Posted on 12/30/2025 7:16:08 AM PST by Miami Rebel
Iran is facing its largest demonstrations in years as people hit the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest the country's dismal economic situation.
The protests erupted Sunday and gathered pace Monday after the Islamic Republic’s currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar. Many in Iran are already struggling with the cost of living, and rising prices have fueled concerns about potential hyperinflation.
In Tehran, shopkeepers protested near the city’s central bazaar, reminiscent of the Iranian revolution in 1979 when merchants played a key role by shuttering their shops and protesting against the reigning monarch at the time.
While the underlying reasons for the protests are economic, video geolocated by NBC News that circulated online Sunday showed crowds chanting against the country’s ruling clerics. NBC News was not able to establish when the footage was dated to.
A photo from the state-run Fars news agency showed tear gas being fired, though Iran's president urged authorities to listen to the "legitimate demands" of the protesters. The embattled head of the central bank, Mohammad Reza Farzin, resigned Monday, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
The Iranian rial crashed to 1.42 million to the dollar on Sunday and was being traded for 1.38 million to the dollar on Monday. The dramatic drop in the value of the currency has led to families struggling to make ends meet as the value of their savings has plunged, analysts say.
According to the state statistics center, the inflation rate in December rose to 42.2% from the same period last year and is 1.8% higher than in November. Food prices rose 72% and health and medical items were up 50% from December last year, according to the statistics center. Many critics see the rate as a sign of approaching hyperinflation.
“People feel that they are left alone, that the leadership doesn’t care about them,” Omid Memarian, a senior Iran analyst at Dawn, a Washington-based nonprofit promoting human rights in the Middle East, told NBC News in a telephone interview.
“The president doesn’t know what to do and the sanctions are biting and the pressure is just mounting by the day,” said Memarian, a prominent critic of the Iranian government who previously worked at the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
The protests began among shopkeepers and traders in Tehran, with state media reporting that many stores around the Grand Bazaar were closed Monday as hundreds gathered.
The currency drop and fluctuating prices saw traders selling imported goods particularly affected.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the country’s deep economic woes in a message posted to X on Monday. He said he had instructed the minister of interior to meet with representatives from the protesters in order to hear their concerns and try to solve their problems.
"People’s concerns and protests about livelihood problems must be addressed responsibly," Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Tuesday, according to state television.
“Immediate decisions are necessary to maintain people’s purchasing power," he said, "and assure people that wrong economic practices are changing and improving.”
Qalibaf also accused Iran's enemies of seeking to exploit the protests.
Authorities announced a shutdown would take place Wednesday in Tehran and a number of other provinces across the country, citing cold weather and the need to maintain energy supplies.
The demonstrations appeared to be the largest in the Islamic Republic since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 and 2023, which posed a serious challenge to the Iranian government and only dwindled after a harsh crackdown from security forces that led to the death of some 500 people and the arrest of thousands.
“While these protests have a different trigger than the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising — sparked by the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police—the core grievances remain the same: systemic mismanagement, corruption, and repression,” Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a text message response to questions. “For Iranians, as long as the Islamic Republic remains in power, their problems cannot be solved.”
Iran's economy has been battered by years of sanctions and a 12-day war with Israel last June — when the U.S. military also attacked the country's nuclear facilities — left the country reeling.
"After the war, there was a sense that there would be a huge opening up, but you’re seeing actually the leadership of Iran has become even more hard line and people don’t see any path toward getting out of the ditch that they are in now," said Memarian.
We've seen this scenario before.
Iran still practices sharia banking, which forbids the charging of interest.
The global financial system is debt-and-interest-based, and the New Order will no longer accommodate interest-free transactions.
The country's banking and financial system is manipulated to create hardship for people, then they inevitably become angry and protest.
But it's all just part of the long con - perpetrated by the global financial system.
While the underlying reasons for the protests are economic, video geolocated by NBC News that circulated online Sunday showed crowds chanting against the country’s ruling clerics.
The 'ruling clerics' - who are an integral part of the system that requires sharia-compliant banking.
Hegelian:
Problem -> Reaction -> Solution
The solution will be that Iran will eventually do away with sharia-compliant banking.
The ones with all the money - have all the power.
Just a little push, and then....
And there is zero short term solution to their water supply problem. None at all.
They will either become nomads or refugees.
First guess ?
“If there is no starvation, there will be no desperate overthrow riots.”
Not what we want, either - that’s what the French did and after the Reign of Terror and Napoleon, they were back to monarchy after 25 years.
You are correct.
It is economically impossible to fix the ancient Qanats.
Israel has bailed out Iran water system out twice.
The Mullahs of Iran an die of thirst as far as I am concerned. But the Iranian people are not like them.
The Greatest Threat Facing Iran: Running Out of Water catastrophe (Seth M. Siegel, Sep 16, 2015)
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-water-crisis
Excerpted from: Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World. Copyright © 2015 by Seth M. Siegel
How Israel became a water superpower (Dec 1, 2015)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-became-a-water-superpower/
There is a lot more to be gained by working with Israel.
The water issue is not reversible, but Israel has long history of water use in very arid locations. Before the Mullahs, Israel engineers showed them how to overcome this.
Those who are wanting to take over Iran, are right on top of this. (but they are Muslim too, moderate??)
I have known a few smart people who were from Iran. One was an architect in Colorado. I drew plans for a retail store in a shopping area on the Western Slope. He did not call himself an Iranian, he was a Persian.
In breeding inside families, in the Muslim world has done a lot to reduce the IQ.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.