Iranian Merchants Close
Down Shops in Silent Strike against Hyperinflation
اعتصاب بخشهایی از بازار شهرهای ایران در
اعتراض به گرانی و رکود
OCTOBER 10, 2018
Merchants and business owners went on strike in several Iranian
cities on October 8, 2018, to protest against hyperinflation and economic
instability.
Images and video
footage posted on social media
networks showed many shops closed that day in the cities of Tehran, Tabriz,
Mashhad, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Orumiyeh.
But Iran’s state television reported on October 8 that businesses were
open to the public at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.
“Even though it was said that the bazaar would be on strike today,
the level of activities was the same as any other day and the merchants are
busy as usual,” said a reporter for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting (IRIB). “More and more customers are pouring into the Grand
Bazaar, which indicates brisk business.”
After the US pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal in May 2018,
the threat of renewed US sanctions caused Iran’s domestic currency, the rial,
to spiral downwards while the prices of goods and services rose sharply.
