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Raheb Homavandi / Reuters file
A money changer holds Iranian rial banknotes as he waits for customers in Tehran's business district in this January 7, 2012 file photo.
The United States, the European Union and the U.N. have imposed tough economic sanctions against Iran, blocking access to the international banking system and curbing sales of Iranian crude oil as a way to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.
As a result, Iran’s currency, the rial, is in a constant state of flux, but mostly on a downward trajectory. These days, it seems to fall in value against the dollar on an hourly basis. On Tuesday the currency hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar, trading at 26,500 to the U.S. dollar on the open market, according to Persian-language currency tracking website Mazanex.
“Our money is becoming more and more worthless every day,” said Sarvenas Sadi, an elderly woman doing her daily shopping in Tehran earlier this week.
She picked up a handful of limes and exclaimed, “These were 100 percent cheaper last year!”
Asked whether she ever thought she would see the currency devalue so much, she replied, “Never! I remember before the [1979] revolution $1 was worth 70 rial, now it’s worth 26,000! Who would have ever have thought!”
Iranians feel the pain of sanctions: 'Everything has doubled in price'
Did she think things would ever balance out and the price of goods would come down to what they were before. “Unfortunately I don’t think so. The thing with Iran is that once the price of something goes up, it never comes down again.”
So what’s the solution? “Eat less limes,” she jokingly replied.
AP
Two potential Iranian customers look at fabric bolts in Tehran's old main bazaar in this picture taken July 14, 2012.
Manufacturing hit hard
The financial situation is affecting people from all classes. Thousands of workers have been laid off and have not been paid back wages because companies have simply run out of money. Majid, a 32-year-old mechanic who used to work for a large car company was recently laid off and is owed six months’ salary.
“They are laying off people left, right and center. I doubt there will be a company left by the New Year,” he said, giving just his first name because of the sensitivity of the issue in Iran. Persian New Year will be on March 21, 2013.
The car industry, one of the biggest manufacturing sectors in Iran and a massive employer, has been affected dramatically; Iranian media have reported a 30 to 50 percent drop in car and component production in the past six months. Iran was the 13th-largest auto maker in the world in 2011, producing 1.6 million vehicles.
The Iran Khodro Company, the country’s leading vehicle manufacturer, had become the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The company won the annual national prize for export activities in 2006 and 2007 with Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria and Bulgaria among their key consumers.
But higher prices, due to the soaring costs of components as a result of the sanctions, have caused a drop in demand.
Israel's Netanyahu: Draw 'clear red line' to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons
For instance, France's Peugeot Citroen halted shipments of vehicle kits for assembly in Iran earlier this year, saying international sanctions barring transactions with the country's banking system made it difficult to obtain sales financing.
Sanctions have taken a toll on the Iranian economy. The government is reluctant to admit it. Inflation is high. The number of young unemployed is a growing concern. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports.
Majid, the mechanic, said he is looking for work elsewhere but it is proving very difficult. “There are not many jobs going and it is getting me more and more depressed.”
Oil sales to travel - down
The oil sector has been hit hard too. The Iranian Labor News Agency reported that a letter on behalf of 20,000 oil workers from across the country was sent to Labor Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami complaining that they had not been paid in months. The letter demanded an increase to the worker’s salaries of $120 to $285 a month, adding that at the current rate they were "way below the poverty line.”
Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a prominent Iranian member of parliament, said oil exports in June-July had dropped to "around 800,000 barrels per day," according to a report by ISNA news agency. That’s a low not seen in more than two decades, and less than half the 2.3 million barrels per day exported just a year ago.
But Minister of Petroleum Rostam Qasemi was quoted by ISNA saying that overall oil production this year "will be the same as last year."
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a firm deadline for Iran to halt its nuclear program, using a simple drawing to warn the UN that Iran will soon reach the point of no return in its development of nuclear weapons. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
The strangling of the economy isn’t just affecting blue-collar workers.
Middle-class Iranians had become accustomed to foreign travel – to Dubai, a playground for Iranians only an hour and half away, Turkey, one of only a few countries that does not require visa’s for Iranians, and Thailand. But the cost of travel to any of these destinations is prohibitive to many.
More Iran coverage from NBC News
Maryam, a travel agent in Tehran who also only gave her first name, estimated that the number of travelers has been halved in a year. “The price of tickets and organized tours increased almost a hundred fold. They say that this will boost domestic holidays, but I think that is even too expensive for most people.”
This was evident to me last month flying back to Tehran from London via Dubai. Usually the flight from Dubai to Tehran is jammed, but not this time. Business and first class were full with the super-rich of Iran, but 70 percent of the plane which makes up the economy class was almost empty.
As the American mission in Afghanistan winds down, dangers still abound for U.S. troops – the most recent incident involved a Taliban gunman who fired on a U.S. Marine outpost in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Expected to get worse
Mehdi is a young entrepreneur who imports computers and accessories who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said people are just not buying in Iran right now. His biggest wish was that the value of the rial would just stay fixed against dollar – even if it was at an unfavorable rate – just so consumers would know how much things would cost in a weeks’ time, a day or even in the next few hours.
While the sanctions have certainly taken a major bite out of the economy and are hurting people from all walks of life – it does not seem to be making the government authorities buckle. If anything it seems to have stiffened the government’s resolve and things are set to become even more difficult in the not too distant future.
Britain, France and Germany are urging their European Union partners "to further step up the pressure" on Iran. Further sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic's energy, finance, trade and transportation sectors are expected to be formally adopted on Oct. 15.
At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.
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Leave a Comment:
Some think Iran is full of hateful terrorists. It is not. The Iranian people, for the most part, are good people. They want peace and prosterity. they want to better thier future for themselves and thier children. Its a tyranical, hateful regime that holds power, that keeps them as outcasts in the world. Just like Kim Jong Il did to North Korean, and Saddam did to Iraq. When a country is run by people who spew hate and advocate destroying others, its always the common people that suffer. Iran needs NEW revolution The good people, need to take back thier country. I would never hate on the Iran people, but I can certainly hate that POS Ahmedinijahd!
Oh no, poor Iran! *Sarcasm* This is what happens when you force your people at gunpoint to accept your religion, install religious leaders into your legal, justice, and every branch of political office, and furthermore, what happens when you won't let Israel just be. Just live peaceful lives! No no, that would be too difficult I guess. As long as there are muslims, there will be violence. Their koran preaches it, it's not gonna change, they read it, it preaches violence against everyone non-muslim (you can't even fly in a plane anywhere near mecca if you are a non muslim) and this is the consequence, nobody wants to deal with you. Stop telling people the holocaust never happened, stop threatening to wipe nations and peoples off the earth, sell your oil, and use it to a peaceful end. We should just call a crusade to mecca and tehran, once and for all. (Oh, and not pay them billions for the destruction we caused.)
Look who is visiting in the White House...Morsi...Wake up people...The Infiltration is almost complete.
Instead of going sideways about some meaningless YouTube video, these people should be tar and feathering that little crap stain, Imadickhead.
Rise up and put an end to your governments delusional path set out by extremeist clerics that are long dead and rotting in the ground.
Exactly....the need to realize he can be replaced! He's out of office next year anyway, but maybe he needs to be gone before that. If Iranians continue to think like third-worlders, they will remain as such. Forget international impact, fix your own country and let Iranians thrive. And watch out for Israel...they are just itching to start a nuclear war and drag the USA into it!
The People...are always the ones that will suffer...The Gov'ts just get larger...
Israel has the right to live and to protect her tiny country from the bohemoth Iran...3000 year history in the neighborhood says so. Obama should have helped the Iranian people when they begged him..Instead, he ignores and beds down with The Brotherhood...
If you think it cannot happen here, ask yourself about your dollar being printed daily is a setup for collapse...and ask yourself if all Gov't assistance stopped...what do You think would happen?
If Obama helped Iran in any way you would be calling him a Muslim terrorist. Its like there is no way to win with you hate driven bigot minded people. lol Atleast I'm one of the few individuals that can call you out on your retarded ways. lol The more you talk the dumber you appear. Shhhh silence is your best weapon brokeincolorado.
Broke in Colorado is 100% right on the money - Obama helped Libya - but Obama yo Mama had a golden opportunity to help the Iranians - they went to the streets in protest hoping the Nobel Peace Prize winner was going to help them create a new Iran. However Obama Yo Mama said the US will not get involved in any other country's business - but meanwhile back at the crib - he jumps right into the Libyan situation - will the real Obama please step forward
I DO feel sorry for them. BECAUSE what's going to happen here, is Israel and the US are sowing the seeds for more trouble. I don't want Iran to have nukes either but they're taking this out on the Iranian people. Do you understand? THIS IS WRONG. Imagine if you owned a business or worked over there. Innocent in all of this.
This, more than ANYTHING else, will insure more problems with Iran and if they ever get nukes, they will not hesitate to use them. What do they have to lose? Another FAILURE by Obama and Israel.
I love US and Israel, just saying.
The Sanctions are to stop the production of Nuclear weapons. Its a punishment TheDarkOne.
Maan plain and simple it doesnt' matter what Obama does, because your still going to be a hater of it.
Your types are whats wrong with America today, your blinded by your hate driven bigot minded agenda.
Hmm which one do you want?? Bomb Iran?? Give them Sanctions to slow them Down?? or Give them a big tight hug?? lol Maaan your just like the whole Mitt Romney Campaign, Bash Obama for everything, But leave out the specifics on how you would make the situation better. lol You losers are 100% comedy lmao hahahha
Israel is NOT a peace-loving nation. They are just itching to start a war, will find a reason. They are constanting twisting Iran's tail and now trying to do the same to the USA. BeBe is a troublemaker. Hope cooler heads prevail here in the USA. We cannot afford another war, esp. a war that will not have Jewish mothers sending their sons off to fight to defend Israel!!
until you can make the gov't of iran feel the pinch nothing is ever going to change in iran. why do the common citizens of iran have to bear the brunt of sanctions. because oshama doesn't doesn't have a clue what he is letting his minions do.
Obama dosen't have a clue...period...
And if the sanctions really are working as stated, then why would Israel want a war?! Israel has its own bomb though to not discuss that! They want the USA to get into a war, let Americans die and Israel will sit back and collect money from the American Jewish community as Americans die. Stop Israel first, then worry about Iran!!
Money becoming worthless?? i don't know ....maybe you can eat it? i mean this is what man has made it's god...pray...maybe it will turn into a ham sandwich.
Iranians can overthrow their leadership or learn how to eat sand sandwiches !
Regardless of their choice, time is limited, Israel is tired of Obama's cowardice and will soon strike. The Iranians have had decades to change their course. It is their own fault.
Our money is becoming more & more worthless....Food prices have doubled...gas prices...is this story about the US or Iran...the propaganda network at it's best.....do you really think sanctions have stopped Iran's nuclear program...I believe they already have nuclear warheads & if Obama is re-elected...they will use them....
The Sanctions are to stop the production of Nuclear weapons. Its a punishment TheDarkOne.
Maan plain and simple it doesnt' matter what Obama does, because your still going to be a hater of it.
Your types are whats wrong with America today, your blinded by your hate driven bigot minded agenda.
Hmm which one do you want?? Bomb Iran?? Give them Sanctions to slow them Down?? or Give them a big tight hug?? lol Maaan your just like the whole Mitt Romney Campaign, Bash Obama for everything, But leave out the specifics on how you would make the situation better. lol You losers are 100% comedy lmao hahahha
This is nothing but a propaganda story to prop-up the Obama campaign.....the majority of American's know that his foreign policy is in shambles...the encomony is in shambles...we need a leader..not someone that leads from behind....and no...I don't want to bomb Iran...I want a President that stands up to them...I want a leader...not a spineless coward that we have in the WH....and when I say Americans....I'm not talking about you liberals....
Maybe you all can go to the radiation cafe for lunch.
So let me see if I've got this straight....
Back in '09, when the Iranian people were marching in the street, protesting their Theocratic Mohammudan Government, and wanting to become a part of the "Civilized" World again, as they were under the Shah, our Fearless Leader was..... Silent? And then, a year and a half LATER, when Egypt, Libya, et al, had the Muslim Brotherhood Marching in the street, protesting the Secular "Dictatorships" in THOSE countries, he's All Teeth.....
Now, I'm not a Silly "Birther", nor am I a "Tea-Bagger", (Although, I DO agree that I'm MORE than Taxed Enough Already), but I'm REALLY starting to wonder about which Major Religion The Chosen One is ACTUALLY supportive of.....
Oh, and where's his "Speech" condemning the Egyptian Clerics' burning the New Testament in front of our embassy the other day??...........(crickets chirping).....
As long as the Chosen one isn't a Mormam I don't care lmao hahahaha
has anyone thought that maybe the iranians are trying to build electricity? so that they don;t have to fight with their neighbors? everyone is so worried about money when really it is useless.
The Iranians already have electricity, and the steps they are taking to enrich Uranium are not necessary for production of electricity.
Money is useless? Spoken like someone who has no job and is living on the money earned by others.
Right. That might fly if their leadership hadnt publicly announced intentions to destroy Israel.
America again destroying other nations with it's do as we say, not as we do mentalities. There agenda of, Buy American weapons and help them become the biggest Military weapons dealer in the world today. America will give you Nukes Iran,, Just buy them from the biggest War mongers around,, OUR government. Then once they invade your country, they will Arm all the so called Rebels of their deceptions with weapons. Look at the deceptions rolling around about Syria now. OH The terrorist are there now, just in time for America to invade their lands by saying they are helping the people when all we see is they are invading other governing systems with their Hitler mentalities of taking over the worlds resources. Iranian people have the right to exists, yet this government of the USObama will make sure they can't and you only see when this criminal election is over, Obama has all the plans to invade their country, Use them for the next tag of terrorist and will surely like we see in other countries now. Arm the so Called Rebels with American Military Arms, since this government today is invested into death and destruction. Making America the biggest Military Arms dealer in the world. Their true goal is to do as we say, Not as we do. So just conform, and do it or die.
Very sad story. These people are no one's enemies. Their government and clerics have betrayed them just like so many others around the world. I would hope that Americans could relate to how these folks feel, given how harshly our own government is viewed by many.
I heard 70% of Iranians are under 30. If so, you can almost bet that the vast majority of those people want nothing to do with the turban headed, medievil nutcaes in power, and would love to have the freedoms we have here in the US. Unfortunately, as with a lot of things, its always the innocents, and the people that want nothing more than to just LIVE, that get hurt when you have to confront A-holes like Achmadinajad and friends and Hussein and Hitler and The Taliban etc.
On a lighter note, I'm working on my own theory for the worthlessness of their currency. Take a look at that mean looking, ugly face (filled with the love of god, no doubt) on their rial!! He must have forgotten to take his happy pills when that picture was taken. "Hey buddy, have you heard the joke about......nah...never mind"
Let me tell you something, I recently had another routine colonoscopy and was required to drink that "liquid plumber" concoction for 2 hours the previous day while I s--- my brains out. If you put a turban on my head and took my picture during that 2 hour period, I would probably have looked just like Khomeni does on that rial.
The people rising up against their own government? Will not happen there -- they'd all be killed. It might happen here (in the US) is we're all armed and prepared to march. But the government has stolen so much from all of us the elites, the bankers, the military industrial complex will crush us all. Welcome to the weeping and knashing of teeth. Soon US money will be worthless, and guess why the government is taking private citizen gold away. Anyone see the writing on the wall??
If the vast majority of Muslims are decent people, (ridiculous) then they can simply review the facts and be sure of who got them in this sorry mess. It is Islam that has caused this, the puppet government Islam empowers that has implemented their sorrow.
Throw them out. A majority against a few? Throw them out. The worst thing America and the West can do to Iranians is to leave them to their self inflicted, self sustained misery.
Enjoy!
It is deeper than that Steve. Islam teaches the way to heaven is through self sacrifice and enduring hardships in the name of Allah. Their government is run by hard line radical clerics (not the president). It would be easy to convince the people that the tough times they face are a test which must be passed.
You can bet the lady in the article will be punished for speaking out against the government. The sanctions inposed do nothing but hurt the Iranian people (who are not our enemy) and buy time for the government to finish developing nuclear weapons. Thats all our dipomatic efforts are doing.
Anthony, they say they are our enemies. Islam says we all need to die. Are you saying they lie?
I agree about futile diplomatic efforts, though. If they want nuclear weapons, I say we send them some.
Iranian: 'Our money is becoming more and more worthless every day' How ironic... We as Americans can say the exact same thing about our money!!!
I blame The Great Britain and France for pulling out of the region. If Imperialism and colonialism were still in place, say as it were in the early 1900's this discussion would no be had.. These regions don't want to be governed from the outside, but they NEED to be to maintain order.
Chirp....chirp....
So, Teheran will let it's people starve to keep those centrifuges turning, no surprise there.
Reminds me of N. Korea.
The "Nutjob" running/ruining Iran is no different from the "Nutjob(s)" we have running/ruining the U.S. It's always about themselves and not their people. I agree, the Iranian people will eventually rise up and handle the situation just like the intelligent citizens of the U.S. will do if we have much more of what we have now in Washington. Nobama/Nobarry - 2012.