Iran’s largest protests in three years erupted Monday after the country’s currency plummeted to a record low against the US dollar, and the head of the Central Bank resigned.

State TV reported the resignation of Mohammad Reza Farzin, while traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran as well as in the Shush neighborhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. Merchants at the market played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought Islamists to power.

The official IRNA news agency confirmed the protests. A journalist from the pro-labor news agency ILNA reported “demonstrations” at several bazaars in the center of the capital on Monday, the agency said.

It said protesters “are demanding immediate government intervention to rein in exchange-rate fluctuations and set out a clear economic strategy.”

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.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that traders shut their shops on Monday and asked others to do the same. ILNA said many businesses stopped trading, even though some kept their shops open.

Videos sent to Iran International show security forces confronting protesting shopkeepers in central Tehran on Monday, with riot police deployed around the Grand Bazaar and tear gas used on Jomhouri Street near the Hafez underpass. pic.twitter.com/OyhQlyUJaN

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2025

Price fluctuations are paralyzing the sales of some imported goods, with both sellers and buyers preferring to postpone transactions until the outlook becomes clearer, AFP correspondents noted.

“Continuing to do business under these conditions has become impossible,” ILNA quoted protesters as saying.

State news agency IRNA reported: “Many shopkeepers preferred to suspend sales in order to prevent potential losses.”

Nighttime protests were........

© The Times of Israel