Society

Iranians are struggling to afford basic food as bread prices rise sharply and citizens describe soaring costs for vegetables, snacks and other everyday purchases, according to an local media report and messages sent to Iran International on Monday.

Iranians are increasingly buying basic food on credit and lining up for chicken scraps, with shopkeepers and residents describing shrinking purchasing power under rapidly rising prices in a report published Sunday.

Some Iranian schools are charging billions of rials for pools, therapy and small classes as students elsewhere reuse old bags and go without uniforms, shoes and stationery because their families cannot afford them ahead of the new school year.

Iranian actress Laleh Marzban dedicated her best actress award at the Venice Film Festival to the “brave women of Iran,” saying they were enduring immense pressure and paying a heavy price for basic freedoms.

Sepah Bank, a major state-owned bank tied to the Islamic Republic's military has warned staff to pursue pay and workplace grievances only through authorized channels, according to an internal notice obtained by Iran International.

Heavy fighting between Iranian security forces and unidentified gunmen spread across parts of Saravan in southeastern Iran on Saturday, with reports of attacks on military vehicles and dozens of security personnel killed or wounded, the rights group Haalvsh reported.

Routine screenings and consultations for Iranian women can now cost more than two months of average pay, as healthcare prices rise much faster than wages and force some women to postpone preventive care.

A dispute over Iran’s proposed measures to combat foreign infiltration escalated Thursday, with a senior lawmaker accusing President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government of acting illegally after the cabinet opposed a parliamentary committee report on the controversial legislation.

Iranian authorities are holding back from enforcing mandatory hijab as extensively as they would like because of “war conditions,” a senior official said Wednesday, even as pressure grows for tougher enforcement.

Mohsen Namjoo mocked the Quran, ridiculed religious figures and crossed political red lines that have brought severe punishment for others in Iran. Now back in the country, his return contrasts sharply with restrictions still imposed on female singers.

Iran is preparing to issue a new compulsory hijab directive for universities, a senior official said Tuesday, as hardliners intensify pressure on women over mandatory veiling ahead of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in morality police custody.

Iranian security forces deployed around fuel stations and on streets across the country as a gasoline price increase took effect, with people warning of further pressure on household budgets and rising prices for other goods and services.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry called for legal action against those behind an attack on Iraqi students in Iran’s Semnan province after a confrontation reportedly triggered by unconfirmed allegations that several Iraqi students assaulted an Iranian woman.

Iranian authorities are expanding programs aimed at preparing young people for future police and security roles, with President Masoud Pezeshkian attending the opening of a police high school on Saturday.

Iranians have found a way to complain about prices that no prosecutor can touch: they film themselves dancing beside the groceries, insist they are delighted, and explain that if they were not, they would be executed.

Signs of renewed street-level hijab enforcement have emerged in Tehran and other parts of Iran, including footage of women warning passersby over their clothing, though it remains unclear whether it represents an organized return of hijab patrols.

Sexual transmission accounted for about 65% of newly identified HIV cases in Iran last year, replacing injecting drug use as the main route of new infections as diagnoses among women increased, a leading HIV researcher said on Thursday.

Iran faces shortages of about 800 medicines, including dozens considered vital, as currency constraints and import disruptions threaten to drive some drug costs as much as threefold, Iranian local media reported on Thursday.