Tehran bazaar shopkeepers say the Islamic Republic's war with America, inflation of nearly 90 percent and the collapse in the rial's value have pushed demand so low that many of them are on the brink of bankruptcy. In a report from the Tehran bazaar on Sunday, 11 October 2026, Agence France-Presse published sellers' and buyers' accounts of livelihoods in the eighth month of the war.
According to the agency, annual inflation on official figures reached nearly 90 percent in September, and food prices have more than doubled since last year. The open-market dollar rate last week was about 270,000 tomans, compared with about 170,000 before the war. The monthly minimum wage, worth about $120 a year ago, has fallen to about $65.
People buying less in the Tehran bazaar
A 61-year-old nut seller in the Tajrish bazaar in north Tehran told AFP that customers who used to buy two to five kilos now buy one kilo or half a kilo. He said prices are truly high and urged officials to hold the dollar rate steady so that shopkeepers can plan.
Ali Norouzi, a 36-year-old sportswear seller, said that because of the lack of demand he orders only a few items for the window and his stockroom is empty; according to him, rent and the shop's water and electricity costs have gone up, and when people no longer come to buy, that effectively means bankruptcy. A 57-year-old mechanic also said his customers have fallen to a tenth and people ask the price and leave.
A 45-year-old unemployed woman told the agency that kitchen paper towels she bought a few months ago for the equivalent of 22 cents now cost five times as much, and she has stopped buying some fruit.
In the Tehran bazaar people's purchases have fallen to between a tenth and a half of what they were, and shopkeepers speak of bankruptcy.
The Islamic Republic's reaction and the background to the economic crisis
According to AFP, the Islamic Republic's economy minister has rejected predictions of an imminent collapse of the economy and accused "enemies" of fanning public anxiety and driving up the exchange rate — a claim at odds with the government's own official figures.
The Islamic Republic's central bank had earlier announced that Iran's economy shrank by more than 12 percent in spring 2026. The US naval blockade has also multiplied freight rates from Turkey to Iran, and according to analysts at Kpler, the Islamic Republic's oil export revenue will fall to zero by mid-December. The war began last winter with US and Israeli attacks, and after years of sanctions and mismanagement its burden has fallen most heavily on citizens.
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