Beyond the immediate anger, the streets of Iran carry the weight of a half-century stalemate. Whatโs unfolding now is a decisive rupture in an authority that demands endless sacrifice to fund proxies abroad while failing to deliver the basic functions of a state at home.
By mid-January 2026, the Iranian rial had reached a functional zero: so depleted that it no longer functioned as money in daily life. In that space, barter, dollarization and survival pricing replace normal economic life. With open-market rates now in the seven-figure range per dollar, pricing has become a matter of guesswork, and savings have turned to ashes. Trumpโs Jan. 12 announcement of a 25% tariff targeting Iranโs trading partners arrived late to the story. The economy was already collapsing under its own weight.
Architecture of atrophy
This wave of unrest began where the Islamic Republic had long expected obedience: the marketplace. When the Grand Bazaar shuttered its doors in late December amid currency collapse, rising prices and economic despair, the regime lost its most vital pillar of legitimacy. That origin point changes the regimeโs focus.
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