A series of overnight earthquakes and a powerful dust storm rattled Tehran and nearby cities on Tuesday night, reviving fears of a catastrophic earthquake in a capital still psychologically scarred by recent war.
More Iranians are moving back in with family or taking on roommates after losing jobs and struggling to keep up with rising rents in major cities, according to messages sent to Iran International.
A series of tremors in and around Tehran late Tuesday stirred shock, dark humor and political despair among residents, with some initially mistaking them for renewed US-Israeli strikes.
Some Iranians say security bodies blocked their internet or SIM cards over alleged online activity against the Islamic Republic, then demanded pro-government posts, written pledges and guarantors to restore access, according to messages sent to Iran International.
Businesses across Iran are cutting jobs, scaling back operations and facing possible closure as internet disruptions, inflation and the economic fallout from war deepen pressure on employers and consumers, according to messages sent to Iran International.
Millions of people in Iran have spent more than 70 days dealing with widespread internet disruptions and restrictions that many residents say have disrupted their work, healthcare, daily lives and mental well-being.
Prices for some medicines in Iran have surged by as much as 400% and pharmacies are struggling to supply critical drugs to patients, a pharmacists’ association official said on Sunday.
On Sanaei Street in central Tehran, young people spill onto pavements and crowd around tiny tables late into the evening, smoking and laughing as if the war never happened.
The war has pushed relations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates close to rupture, disrupting one of the region’s most important commercial relationships and leaving ordinary Iranians who built lives and businesses caught in the fallout.
Renewed deal talk between Washington and Tehran has angered many Iranians, who questioned in messages to Iran International whether another agreement would reward the Islamic Republic while ordinary people bear the cost.
Washington and the tech industry have the means to help Iranians: expand the tools that bypass censorship and raise the price Tehran pays for shutting the internet down.
A hardline cleric’s attack on unveiled women, even as Iranian state media showcased them at pro-government rallies to signal broad wartime support, has exposed tensions within the establishment over hijab enforcement.
Iranians described layoffs, unpaid wages and rising food and medical costs in messages to Iran International, while labor market data and local media reports pointed to a widening employment shock after the ceasefire.
As Iran has experienced a systematic disruption of the international internet for 65 days, access to the free flow of information has turned into a luxury and a symbol of structural inequality, a crisis that has triggered a new wave of migration – migration for internet access.
One thing never stops here: executions. War or no war, talks or no talks, crisis or calm, the machinery moves at its own pace: steady and unbroken, as if insulated from everything else.
Iranians condemned selective access to restricted internet services as discriminatory and corrupt in messages to Iran International, urging others to reject the scheme in recent days.
Medicine prices in Iran have surged sharply in recent weeks, with some drugs rising by as much as 380%, according to reports received by Iran International, as the country grapples with soaring inflation, a collapsing currency and worsening wartime disruption.
For years, young women from smaller cities and conservative families came to Tehran to study, to work, to breathe. Now, one by one, many are being forced to leave.
Iran’s water crisis did not begin with a “water mafia,” but with a state model built on self-sufficiency, laws that gave the government broad control over water, subsidized water, and mega-projects that turned scarcity into a map of conflict.
Iran’s near-total shutdown of the global internet reached 60 days on Tuesday, worsening economic losses and social restrictions as authorities move toward selective access for some users and businesses.
Food prices surged and basic goods slipped out of reach across Iran, citizens told Iran International in recent days, describing shortages and daily price jumps following a ceasefire that has coincided with worsening economic conditions.
Iran’s state broadcaster has sparked ridicule after claiming that 87% of Iranians support continuing the war with the United States, in a curious turn from early in the conflict where pro-war sentiments of an alienated populace was branded treachery.