Overview
- Merchant closures that began in Tehran’s central bazaars over the rial’s plunge have expanded to student rallies at at least ten universities and to other cities.
- The prosecutor general warned that any attempt to turn economic protests into destabilization will face a firm legal response, as Israel’s Mossad publicly urged Iranians to escalate.
- President Massoud Pezeshkian called for officials to hear protesters’ “legitimate” demands, and Abdolnasser Hemmati was named as the new central bank governor.
- Authorities deployed security forces in central Tehran, with reports of tear gas earlier in the week; by Wednesday morning the capital was calmer and some classes moved online after weather-related closures.
- The currency hit a record low of roughly 1.4 million rials per U.S. dollar on the parallel market and official data put inflation near 52% year-on-year, pressures linked in part to UN sanctions restored in late September.