Overview
- Merchant-led strikes and demonstrations persisted in Tehran and spread to cities including Isfahan, Shiraz, Karaj, Hamadan, Yazd and Qeshm, with shop closures uneven across the capital.
- The rial hit about 1.4 million per US dollar on the informal market and official data put December inflation near 52% year over year, with food prices rising even faster.
- President Masoud Pezeshkian urged dialogue with protesters and named Abdolnasser Hemmati to head the central bank, as the government prepared a food basket, a food bonus and monetary reforms.
- Riot police deployed in central Tehran used tear gas to disperse crowds, students rallied on multiple campuses, and the Prosecutor General warned of firm legal action against any move toward unrest.
- A local official reported damage to a governor’s office gate in Fasa, while opposition and social-media accounts circulated claims of shootings and arrests that have not been independently verified.