Economy

Iranwire – A recent report by the Statistical Center of Iran has put the unemployment rate across Iran at 9.6 percent this summer: an 0.1 percent increase on the same period last year. Also this season, though, the overall labor force participation rate – generally a better indicator of the country’s economic health – stood at just 41.1 percent: a decline of …

iranwire – Nasir moved to Tehran with his wife and child four years ago in a bid to find work. Because of droughts, it was no longer possible for him to run a farm and work his father’s land. Now he works as a driver’s assistant on heavy and plant machinery. When the family first came to Tehran, conditions were a …

Al-Monitor – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has been making headlines recently with comments on when the nuclear talks with world powers in Vienna will resume. Rather than giving exact dates, he appears to be enjoying the spotlight and attention afforded his position given the international focus on the paused negotiations. During a television interview Oct. 3, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran “is …

VOA – Mehdi Dolatyari watched with dread in recent months as once-affordable goods at his central Tehran supermarket soared out of reach for his customers. Iranians who previously bought sacks of staple foods at the store now struggle to scrape together enough for meals, as the country’s currency sinks to new lows against the dollar. “Rice is awfully expensive,” Dolatyari …

Iranwire – Residential property prices continue to rise in Tehran and other Iranian cities, with renters hit particularly hard. According to a recent report by the Central Bank, average rents in the capital have risen by an eye-watering 42.8 percent since September 2020, and by 45.7 percent across the country. The average cost of buying of a residential property in Tehran meanwhile increased …

Al-Arabia – Venezuela has agreed to a key contract to swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate that it can use to improve the quality of its tar-like crude, with the first cargoes due this week, five people close to the deal said. As the South American country seeks to boost its flagging oil exports in the face of US …

Iranwire – Documents received by IranWire has shown that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the former mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017, provided the Intelligence Unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-IU) with no fewer than 23 parcels of land and property in the Iranian capital to be used as “safe houses”. The project, codenamed “Martyr Shateri”, involved the IRGC-IU’s …

Iranwire – Protests against unpaid salaries, unfair dismissal and poor working conditions continue in Khuzestan province after renewed anger erupted in early September. Laborers, telecommunications company employees and city council workers for Kut Abdollah Municipality are among those demanding their rights to be upheld. The Kut Abdollah protests erupted several days ago, with employees gathering outside the council building to express anger that their …

Al-Monitor – The recent announcement that Iran would start the process of becoming a full member in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was celebrated in the media. On the Iranian side, a heated public debate is taking place on what this development means and whether it was an achievement of the previous or the current administration. There are also debates about the potential economic upside …

freebeacon – Trump administration sanctions on Iran decimated the hardline regime’s trade with the world’s largest economies, knocking it from $46 billion in 2019 to $28 billion in 2020, according to a non-public report sent by the Biden administration to Congress earlier this month. The roughly $18 billion decrease in trade was a significant blow to Iran’s attempts to gain …