Economy & Environment

A social media exchange about steak struck a chord among Iranian users this week, turning one young user's dream into a broader conversation about economic hardship and political frustration.

A growing number of Iranians are financing healthcare with debt as medical costs rise beyond household incomes, a new Eghtesad Online report found, while authorities prioritize medical preparations for the Shiite pilgrimage, Arbaeen.

A widening scandal over the secret network used to move Iran's oil revenues around international sanctions has triggered growing criticism after senior officials acknowledged that intermediaries misappropriated at least $1.6 billion, with some fleeing the country.

UNESCO added Iran's Alamut Castle and related fortifications to its World Heritage List on Sunday, making it the country's 30th tangible cultural heritage site to receive the designation.

Consumer prices in Iran are nearly 89 percent higher than a year ago, as the country compresses into weeks the kind of inflation shock Americans experienced over all of 2022.

Nearly half of Iranian internet users said they were angered by the country's recent internet shutdown during the conflict with the US, while most opposed unrestricted internet access for government officials, according to a survey commissioned by the communications ministry.

Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz appears to have dealt far greater damage to its own trade with China than to Beijing's commerce with the rest of the Persian Gulf, according to newly released Chinese customs data.

Russia’s turn to imported gasoline after Ukrainian attacks damaged its refineries is adding demand to a tight Asian fuel market, creating a potential new complication for Iran as it struggles to cover a daily shortfall of about 30 million liters.

Iranian workers who have gone months without pay may have only two months of financial resilience left without government intervention, a labor representative warned on Thursday, as wage arrears mount following conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic.

Iran's leading economists warned Monday that renewed conflict with the United States risks pushing the country's long-festering economic problems into a more dangerous phase, arguing that inflation is becoming increasingly difficult to contain.

Iranian officials are discussing a possible increase in petrol prices, although no proposal has yet been formally presented to parliament, the spokesman for parliament’s Energy Committee said.

The US dollar reached a record 1,918,000 rials on Iran’s open market Friday, surpassing its previous high as war, inflation and worsening economic prospects continued to weaken the currency.

Rising daycare fees and mounting economic pressure are prompting more Iranian families to forgo kindergarten enrollment and rely on grandparents for childcare, raising concerns among sociologists about the long-term impact on children's social development.

Iranian pensioners say their monthly income no longer covers basic living expenses, with many forced to seek additional work as inflation continues to erode their purchasing power.

Iran’s parliamentary health committee is investigating the allocation of $55 million in subsidized foreign currency to one importer of hip and knee implants, after its chairman said much of the equipment went to private hospitals and a small group of surgeons.

The Iran war has yet to trigger an exodus of entrepreneurs from the Persian Gulf, but falling investment, rising costs and slower funding are beginning to test the region’s heavily financed startup strategy, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Barely 37 percent of working-age Iranians have a job. Yet the government's official unemployment rate is only 7.5 percent. The gap between those two figures reveals less about Iran's labour market than about the way it is measured.

Plastic waste has become a major environmental challenge in Iran, with poor enforcement of waste management regulations allowing single-use plastics to pollute natural areas and water resources, the country's environment chief said on Sunday.