Rouhani: Iran in ‘economic war’ with US
His remarks came a day after traders massed outside Parliament to protest at a sharp fall in the value of the national currency. The rial dropped to 90,000 to the dollar on the country’s black market, despite government attempts to control the currency rate.
Bazaar protests
On Monday, police patrolled the bazaar following clashes with protesters angered by the rial’s collapse, which is disrupting business by driving up the cost of imports.
Fars News Agency reported on Tuesday that parts of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar were on strike for a second day, as protesters rallied in surrounding streets.
ISNA news agency wrote Tuesday that authorities detained many of rioters.
Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said the “main provocateurs” who planned the protest and threatened shopkeepers to close their stores were arrested.
He did not elaborate on the number of people detained.
Defending his economic record, Rouhani said the government’s income had not been affected in recent months, and the fall in the rial was the result of “foreign media propaganda”.
“Even in the worst case, I promise that the basic needs of Iranians will be provided. We have enough sugar, wheat, and cooking oil. We have enough foreign currency to inject into the market,” Rouhani said.
At the end of last year, similar economic protests roiled Iran. The protests in late December and early January saw at least 25 people killed and nearly 5,000 arrested.
Iran has announced a list of 15 demands for improving relations with the United States, including a US return to the 2015 nuclear accord, in response to a similar list of demands made by Washington last month.
In May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a wholesale change in Iran’s military and regional policies, threatening the “strongest sanctions in history” if it refused.
Press TV, AP and Reuters contributed to this story.