Economic collapse intensifies pressure on Iran's rulers

FRESH PROTESTS NOW SHAKING IRAN AS TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH OVER ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

Widening protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy are putting new pressure on its theocracy.

Tehran is still reeling from a 12-day war launched by Israel in June that saw the United States bomb nuclear sites in Iran. Economic pressure, intensified in September by the return of United Nations sanctions on the country over its atomic programme, has put Iran’s rial currency into a free fall, now trading at some 1.4 million to $1.

Meanwhile, Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” —a coalition of countries and militant groups backed by Tehran — has been decimated in the years since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.