Iran is in the midst of growing protests against the government and the clerical leadership. They began on December 28 when traders in Tehran came on the streets because of the adverse economic situation which has impacted the currency and led to great inflation. Iran has multiple exchange rates which enables the regime to favour those it wants. However, ordinary traders have to get the currency in the open market and there it fell in the closing days of last year to all time low of 1.42 million Riyals to the US Dollar. This fall in currency value is making matters very difficult for the traders to do business. Inflation has reached over 40% with food inflation running at over 70%. This is also making life impossible for ordinary people. It is resulting in a loss of faith in the Iranian currency too. Consequently, even moderate value commercial transactions are taking place in gold or US Dollars. In these circumstances it is not surprising that the traders began protesting.

The protests spread to other parts of Iran and students and the youth are now joining them. Western media is reporting that these demonstrations are the most significant since the 2022 protests which occurred after a Kurdish girl died in custody. She had been arrested for not covering her head sufficiently. The 2022 demonstrations had become large scale but they were quelled by the........

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