Powerful Protest in Iran Forced Central Bank Governor to Resign

Heavy protests erupted in Iran against its dropping economic situation. The powerful protest has forced the Central Bank Governor to resign. 

This protest has been considered as the biggest one since 2022 after Iranian girl Masha Amini died due to torture in police custody.

The newly escalated protest is an outrage against the plummeted currency leading to drawing economic situations in the country. The protest followed Iran’s rial which plunged on Sunday to 1.42 million to the dollar. 

The Iranian rial hit a record low of 1.42 million to the dollar on Sunday, with inflation rising to 42.2% in December, up 1.8% from November. Food prices jumped 72%, and medical items increased 50% from last year, sparking fears of hyperinflation. 

Traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran and in the Shush neighborhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. It is reported that the same group of merchants in the market actually played a major role in 1979’s Islamic revolution that had ousted the Shah monarchy and helped to start the Islamic regime.

Parallel rallies were also organized in a few other places in Iran on Monday including central Iran, Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast. 

Police fired tear gas and imposed barriers to control the agitating masses. 

Some believe that the protest was influenced by Iranian crown prince Reza Shah Pahlavi II who called for “unity and uprisings”.

Iran’s Central Bank Governor, Mohammad Reza Farzin, has resigned amid massive protests in Tehran and other cities over the country’s plummeting currency and economic crisis. The protests, considered the largest since 2022, saw traders and shopkeepers rallying in Saadi Street and the Shush neighborhood near Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, with similar rallies in Isfahan, Shiraz, and Mashhad. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.