JEDDAH: Iranians are hunkering down for the return of US sanctions on Monday, with a run on gold and hard currency as they scramble to protect their savings, and sporadic protests over the already troubled economy.
State news agencies reported “scattered protests” of a few hundred people on Thursday in the cities of Shiraz, Ahvaz, Mashhad and Karaj, which police had brought under control.
Videos posted on social media have shown days of demonstrations in Iran’s third city Isfahan, and minor protests in the capital on Thursday night.
So far, they have not been on the scale of the violent unrest that gripped dozens of towns and cities in December and January.
But anxiety is everywhere, especially over the collapse of the rial, which has lost nearly two-thirds of its value in six months.
“We are seeing protests and they will continue,” said Adnan Tabatabai, head of a think tank in Germany. “The establishment knows they are legitimate but my biggest concern is they will be hijacked by groups inside and outside the country and turn violent.”
A decision to fix the exchange rate in April and arrest unlicensed currency dealers backfired spectacularly and triggered a boom in the black market.
Many wealthy Iranians are leaving the country, while others have been gripped by a bunker mentality, stocking up on provisions, dollars and gold in order to ride out the storm.
The US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May and is bringing back “maximum pressure” sanctions for most sectors on Aug. 6, and the energy sector on Nov. 4.
A major blow for Iran will be the loss of oil sales, which analysis firm Facts Global Energy says could drop from 2.4 million barrels per day to as low as 700,000 by the end of the year.
The consequences have sometimes felt absurd. One expat described having to meet a trader under a bridge in central Tehran to change $2,000.
“He told me to wear a red scarf and came up to me whispering: ‘Show me the money’ like we were in a spy film,” she said.
