Time for Vigilance

Date: 25 June 2018 - 20:52

News ID: ۵۴۴۰۲

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Calm returned to the Grand Bazaar of Tehran on Monday after a group of protesters swarmed the historic site for a few hours and forced shopkeepers to close their stalls in apparent anger over the economy.
Secretary general of the Islamic Society of Tehran Guilds and Bazaar Ahmad Karimi Esfahani said the shutdown came in protest at the economic performance of the government, including with regard to foreign exchange problems.
"The situation is calm now and the shop owners are reopening their stalls , but this does not mean their rightful demands have been met, because the administration is completely ineffective economic-wise and it apparently does not want to hear the voice of the people and protesters,” he said.
Karimi Esfahani emphasized that the protest should not be interpreted as a move against the Islamic Revolution, saying it was merely motivated by economic issues.
"We had repeatedly warned the administration that it must shore up its economic team, but now we have come to realize that this team must change," he added.
"The administration had better speak to the people honestly and answer them about its economic performance.”
Iran's first vice president Es'haq Jahangiri on Sunday called on the nation to close ranks and counter a "serious economic war" launched by the United States.
"The Americans, in their opinion, have begun a serious war against our country, thinking they can succeed in crippling our economy so that Iran, in the words of the US president, would be forced back to the negotiating table," Jahangiri said.
"Under the circumstances, all state officials including the government, Majlis, the elite and political currents and all Iranian people are required to unite against the big plot which has started and help pass this stage with dignity and fulfillment."
On Sunday, some protesters forced two major shopping centers for mobile phones and electronics to close in Tehran.
Fars, ISNA and Tasnim news agencies said the protests erupted after the Iranian rial dropped to 90,000 to the dollar on the country's black market, despite government attempts to control the currency rate.
The head of Iran's Chamber of Guilds, Ali Fazeli, was also quoted by Tasnim as saying the situation at the bazaar is calm.
"Their demands are delivered through the chamber to the government, and these are being pursued by us," he said.
Rouhani's government has struggled with the economic problems, which have seen high unemployment. A government-set exchange rate of 42,000 rials to $1 has quickly been surpassed in the black market. On Monday, Iranian Central Bank chief Valiollah Seif as saying the government plans to create a parallel market next week to combat the black market.
Rioters and subversive elements manipulated peaceful protests against the economic situation at the end of last year. The protests in late December and early January saw at least 25 people killed during which armed attackers opened fire at participants.
On Sunday, the prosecutor general of Tehran warned the U.S. government’s perennial hostility with the Iranian nation, saying Washington is plotting to provoke unrest and "civil disobedience” in the Islamic Republic through economic pressures on the country.
"They (U.S. officials) want to create fear in the hearts of the people through a psychological war and increase economic pressure by imposing sanctions on banks,” Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said.
In order to reach its goal, the U.S. has had talks with high-ranking officials of a number of countries, he said.
Dowlatabadi touched on peaceful protests in Tehran, saying "the enemy wants to portray the public demands as civil disobedience.”
The prosecutor called on the country’s officials and ordinary people to exercise vigilance in the face of the U.S. plots so that the people’s "legitimate demands” would not be forfeited.