Iran traders protest as rial plunges

伊朗商人抗议里亚尔暴跌

World Business Report

2025-12-30

26 分钟
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Traders in Iran have staged a second day of protests in Tehran, with many closing their shops and marching through key commercial areas to protest the collapse of the rial. Videos on social media show crowds chanting slogans against the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, as officials warn against unrest and blame sanctions for the currency’s sharp fall. Also, the hacking of Jaguar Land Rover has highlighted growing cyber vulnerabilities in the global car industry. And with global military spending at record highs, we look at how defence budgets have surged in response to war and rising geopolitical tensions, with analysis from defence budget expert. (Image: A Iranian man sells boiled beetroot and lava beans in Tajrish Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, 08 December 2025. Credit: ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA/Shutterstock.)
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  • Mass protests in Tehran today, fierce anger over the economy.

  • There are long queues everywhere in front of bakeries, at fuel stations, everywhere you look.

  • Even the bakeries have stopped giving out flour.

  • Food prices have gone up by like four times what they were a year ago.

  • The economy has ground to a halt.

  • Is Iran crumbling?

  • This is World Business Report from the BBC World Service.

  • I'm Ed Butler and today we're going to be looking at the second day of mass protests in Tehran as thousands appear to have defied tight police controls and demonstrated over the collapsing state of the currency.

  • We hear what's going on and we look at how deeply computer hacking risks the entire auto industry supply chains.

  • First though,

  • let's go to Tehran and get a sense of what life is really like on the streets of the Iranian capital today.

  • The sound there of a mass of street traders in Tehran shouting death to the dictator,

  • a reference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khatami.

  • And you can hear underneath them the voice of a rather forlorn policeman with a loud halo telling them to moderate their language.

  • The reason they're so upset?

  • Well, it's the rapidly falling value of the Iranian currency, the Rial.

  • It's the second successive day of protests in Tehran.

  • Many traders have shut their shops, we understand,

  • saying exchange rates mean they can no longer trade.

  • The authorities have warned against unrest.