By Maryam Sinaee

Iranian social media users have since Wednesday circulated calls to bazaars across Iran to go on strike from Saturday, October 3, in protest at the government’s failure to stop the continuing slide of the national currency.

The Iranian rial dropped below 300,000 against the dollar on Thursday [October 1]. The battered currency has fallen ten-fold in the three years since United States President Donald Trump signalled in 2017 his intention to abandon Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers – a move that led to crippling US sanctions after Washington withdrew in May 2018.

The latest call for strikes has come from several sources on Twitter, one bearing the name ‘Union of Workers Across Iran.’ The poster wrote: “In view of high prices [for commodities] and the hike in the exchange rate for the dollar, and considering that the inefficiency of this government and its economic plans has been proved, we call on bazaar merchants across the country and goldsmiths to shut their shops [from October 3] until further notice.”

Some tweets calling on bazaar merchants to go on strike bear the hashtag ‘New Contract’, a reference to Monday’s call from ex-Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, for a new relationship between rulers and ruled. Pahlavi asked Iranians to use civil disobedience, including workplace protests, “to save Iran from the authority of the clergy.” In his video message headlined ‘The New Contract’, the exiled Crown Prince called for unity and cooperation between those taking part in strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

“We are intensely haggling with a group to carry out nationwide protests before the government takes the initiative and shuts businesses down under the pretext of the coronavirus [pandemic],” ran a Twitter account introduced as a “supporter of the Prince” and sharing the call to strike.

Bazaars in Iran have lost much influence to more recent economic and financial networks and outlets, some controlled by the Revolutionary Guards and other state or quasi-state entities.  But a bazaar strike, particularly in the grand bazaars of Tehran and other major cities, would carry a highly symbolic political significance.

In 1978-9 strikes in bazaars, particularly the grand bazaars of Tehran and other major cities, undermined the monarchy and contributed to the Islamic Revolution. Since then the bazaars have occasionally gone on strike, usually in protest at rising prices, especially of gold, or depreciation of the currency rather than as a directly political protest.

In June 2018 merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar went on strike when the rial fell to a then record low of 90,000 against the dollar after a 10,000 fall within 24 hours. After shop-owners’ protests spread to nearby areas in downtown Tehran, security forces intervened with tear gas and arrested protesters.

Another strike in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar in October 2018 OR 2019 was taken up in other cities. The same year saw strikes by a variety of workers, including truck-drivers and teachers, but stopped short of nationwide civil disobedience.