Iran’s economy is in shock. Over the past week, the country’s currency, the rial, has lost half its value, and nobody knows whether the government can stop the downward spiral anytime soon. On Wednesday, Tehran’s traditional bazaar shut down, and authorities from the police and the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) arrested a group of merchants and businessmen who had gathered in the marketplace. An eyewitness told The Daily Beast that near Ferdowsi Square, where most of Tehran’s foreign exchange shops operate, anti-riot police had established a widespread presence and that Tehran’s commercial area had assumed the appearance of a military zone.
Analysts inside and outside Iran are debating whether the government’s economic policies are to fault for the currency crisis, or whether it’s a sign that the U.S.’s crippling sanctions are finally starting to be felt on the ground. But almost all agree that the rial’s depreciation spells very bad news for the country’s embattled president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
