This piece was written before Iran imposed an internet blackout on 8 January.

One night I picked up a pair of estate agents. ‘Is working with Snapp! profitable?’ one of them asked. ‘Everyone seems to be doing it.’
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‘What this government has done to Iran’s economy,’ he replied, ‘no enemy could have accomplished. They frighten the people. So money goes into gold and coins. Then inflation rises and the gold is dumped back into the market. It’s a dirty economic game to empty people’s pockets.’

I asked about the housing market. ‘It’s not about having money,’ he said. ‘It’s about instability. Nobody dares to sell or buy. Prices can shift so fast that you might not even be able to buy back your own home.’ I have heard similar sentiments from shopkeepers, office workers and government employees.
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The demonstrations began on 28 December, when shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar shut their stores in protest at economic hardship, runaway inflation and the collapse of living standards. The protests, strikes, and sit-ins spread from Tehran to Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, Hamadan and other cities. Some demonstrations in Isfahan and Mashhad have linked demands for basic welfare with broader calls for freedom and systemic change.
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He paused, before continuing: ‘This is the result of what people did in 1979 when they shouted “Death to the Shah” and handed the country to people who knew nothing about politics or the world. They were supposed to pray, not run a nation. When you give the fate of a country to superstition and ignorance, this is what you get.’

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/january/driving-in-the-dark