Iran International
Iranian media are now openly discussing the war’s impact on livelihoods—a subject largely avoided until recently, when journalists resorted to indirect language to navigate censorship.
As a fragile ceasefire holds despite exchanges of fire near the Strait of Hormuz, concern has grown about the risk of unrest driven by soaring prices.
The pharmaceutical sector has been among the hardest hit, with some medicine prices reportedly rising nearly six-fold.
“We have a choice between no medicine or making it available at a high price,” Mahmoud Jamalian of parliament’s Health Committee said, according to Asr Iran.
Warnings have also begun to surface about how the state may respond.
Hardline analyst Mostafa Khoshcheshm said on state television that protests over rising prices could be treated as collaboration with foreign powers seeking to destabilize Iran—an indication of how quickly economic grievances could be securitized.
Moderate daily Sharq wrote that after damaging infrastructure, the war is now eroding economic relations and household livelihoods, adding that uncertainty surrounding the conflict is further weakening the economy.
Beyond prices, the disruption has spread across key sectors. Damage to infrastructure and prolonged internet restrictions have slowed or halted parts of the digital economy, while supply chains have come under strain, compounding pressure on businesses and households.
Economist Hossein Raghfar said the government’s handling of the crisis raises serious concerns, warning that continuing current policies will fuel public dissatisfaction.
He argued that frustration over economic conditions—visible during the January unrest—and the state’s inability to address it had weakened the country internally.
Raghfar criticized the use of scarce foreign currency on car imports and said authorities acted too late to halt exports of eggs, rice and meat to stabilize domestic prices.
“Unfortunately, the government is nowhere to be seen these days,” he said, contrasting the current response with the eight-year war with Iraq.
Asked about solutions, Raghfar said Iran still has the capacity to withstand sanctions but lacks the political will to use it. He called for investment in domestic production and urged reallocating funds to revive key sectors.
Another moderate daily, Etemad, reported that workers are emerging as the primary victims of the war and economic strain, with layoffs, unpaid wages and rising poverty becoming widespread.
In Fars Province, between 20 and 100 workers have reportedly been dismissed per workplace; in Rasht, at least 2,000 have lost their jobs in two months.
The Labor Ministry estimates the conflict has cost more than one million jobs, affecting up to two million people directly or indirectly.
Economist Vahid Shaghaghi-Shahri said chronic inflation, temporary contracts and a large informal labor market had already left workers highly vulnerable.
With war, recession and sanctions converging, he urged the government to prioritize “protecting livelihoods and preventing mass unemployment” as an urgent national priority.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
