Iranian families struggle to afford basic necessities, as economy comes under mounting pressure nearly six months into war, with new sanctions expected to deepen the strain.
Tehran’s grocery stores are well-stocked, but many families can barely afford the basics. Unemployment is soaring and those with jobs are working more hours for money worth half as much as a year ago, putting food, medicine and everything else, except for heavily subsidized gasoline, further out of reach.
“We have virtually given up on many things,” said Ahmad Karimi, 52, a taxi driver and father of two who has been working 15-hour days to make ends meet. “We’re cutting out fruit, we’re cutting out protein, we’ve given up leisure, we even work on weekends.”
Nearly six months into the war with the United States and Israel, the Iranian economy is taking a beating under the force of sanctions and a naval blockade that is making it extremely difficult for the country to export oil, its most valuable product.
Whether this intensifying economic pressure will translate anytime soon into military or political concessions from Iran remains to be seen, but some experts are skeptical. Since the war began, Iran has been attacking oil-rich neighbors and U.S. bases in the region and disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, its biggest strategic advantage.
Iran is trying to use this retaliatory pressure, which is driving up energy prices globally, to bring the war to an end on the best terms possible.
The Trump administration, which is stuck fighting over a waterway in a war that was launched to curb Iran’s nuclear program, is now promising to deliver even tougher sanctions to try to squeeze the Islamic Republic into submission. But experts say U.S. President Donald Trump may be underestimating how long Iran can hold out.
Tehran’s sprawling Grand Bazaar is regularly packed with shoppers hoping to find more affordable staples than at the country’s grocery stores, where rice is 60 percent more expensive and beef is 150 percent more expensive than before the war.
A mother of two from northern Iran posted a photo on X this week after purchasing milk, eggs, toilet paper and a few other items, but no meat. She complained that it cost 89 million rials (about $65).
“Buying basic necessities has become our main priority, and our shopping basket has gotten smaller and more limited,” the 41-year-old told The Associated Press.
“The emotional toll and the pressure we’re under are another story,” she said. “Every time we have to say no to our children, every time we have to go back and forth over a decision, whether it’s a class you’d love your children to take or something they really want you to buy for them, it’s genuinely exhausting.”
By the end of the year, inflation in Iran is expected to rise nearly 70 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, and the country’s economy, devastated by a decade of sanctions before the war, is forecast to shrink by more than 5 percent.
