Over the past eight months, the Islamic regime in Tehran has executed at least 54 prisoners for political reasons, including 31 protesters who took part in the mass anti-regime protests in January,
'Prices change hour by hour'
“Sirvan” is the CEO of a small startup or used to be. Since the war began, he has had to fire all of his employees and now runs the business alone. [We are concealing his identity for security reasons.]I can only describe the situation as “free fall”. A few months ago, I had to fire all 12 of my employees. I know many other employers who had to do the same.Prices used to increase month by month or week by week. Now they change hour by hour, and I’m not exaggerating.
One day, I had an order and checked the price of a machine a client needed to replace. In the morning, it was around 180 million toman [€660, based on the exchange rate on September 9, 2026]. By noon, when I wanted to buy it, the price had risen to 220 million toman [€814]. I informed the client, and he changed his mind. He is trying to continue with the defective machinery he already has.
‘Doing business in Iran is a joke now. This morning, an online customer wanted to buy this cellphone. Its wholesale price for us was 70.8 million toman [€262, based on the exchange rate on September 9, 2026]. I told him the price was 72.8 million toman [€269]. He bought it and transferred the money.
Fifteen minutes later, when I wanted to send the cellphone to his address, the price in our system was updated. By then, I had to buy the phone myself for 71.8 million toman [€266].
Just a few minutes later, before we had even sent it to the customer, our online pricing system was updated again, and the price for us had increased to 72.8 million toman [€269]. So I had to send it to the customer without making any profit.
It doesn’t matter. I’m recording this video six hours after I sold the cellphone, and the wholesale price for us to buy the same phone is now 76.5 million toman [€283].’
'Importing has become a game of chess'
“Sirvan” continues:‘It’s impossible to run a business in this situation. If I sell something now, I cannot replace it in my stock for the same price at which I sold it.Part of the problem is the nonstop rise in the toman-dollar exchange rate. But this new situation has another cause. Since Trump imposed the naval blockade on Iran and according to several estimates.
Workers in Mahshahr went on strike over unpaid salaries on August 15. To display this content from Telegram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.'I sold my car, I have to sell my house too'
Amir is a 75-year-old retiree living in Tehran.After decades of hard work and earning what I would describe as an upper-middle-class living, I have now had to start working again. My pension does not even cover the first week of the month, and I’m one of the lucky ones: I receive my pension every month. There are millions of retired people who have not received theirs for months.Estimates suggest that Iran’s annual inflation rate reached as high as 80 percent in August 2026, rising to around 130 percent for food.I work as a driver for Snap [editor’s note: Snap is the Iranian equivalent of Uber].
Before that, I had to sell my car and buy a cheaper one, using the remaining money to pay for my wife’s medicines and medical bills. I could no longer afford them. Some medicines are difficult to find, and they are expensive.
We now want to sell our house and buy two apartments in a cheaper neighbourhood. We would live in one, and my daughter would live in the other. She can no longer afford her monthly rent despite working full time.
