{"id":348167,"date":"2026-09-19T19:41:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T18:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=348167"},"modified":"2026-09-19T19:41:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T18:41:34","slug":"food-prices-surge-fuel-lines-persist-as-tehran-treats-economic-strain-as-a-security-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/food-prices-surge-fuel-lines-persist-as-tehran-treats-economic-strain-as-a-security-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Prices Surge, Fuel Lines Persist as Tehran Treats Economic Strain as a Security Threat\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"iran-expensive-stationary-inflation-min\"
A school-age girl begs her father to buy new stationery at a shop in an Iranian bazaar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran is entering the final days of September under simultaneous pressure from soaring living costs, a weakened currency, fuel shortages and problems across industrial supply chains. What makes the moment politically significant is the state\u2019s response: senior officials are increasingly speaking not only about inflation and production, but about \u201cresilience,\u201d internal cohesion and the danger of popular dissatisfaction being turned against the state.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That anxiety surfaced unusually clearly on September 17, when the<\/span>\u00a0regime’s First Vic<\/span>e President Mohammad-Reza Aref acknowledged<\/a> that ordinary incomes were no longer keeping pace with prices. \u201cWe apologize to the people; we are ashamed that today the income and expenses of our dear people, particularly salary earners, do not match,\u201d he said. Referring to inflation potentially exceeding 60 or 70 percent while wages rise only 20 percent, he added: \u201cIt is impossible. You cannot live.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pressures behind his crocodile tears are real. Iranian reporting this week said food prices have risen between 44 and 293 percent<\/a> since December, forcing households to reduce purchases of meat, poultry and even dairy products. Meanwhile, on September 19, Iran\u2019s currency-market tracker TGJU put the dollar<\/a> at roughly 227,500 tomans, about 20 percent higher than one month earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Zahedan Gunfire Shadows Basij-#IRGC<\/a> Parade Amid Sanctions, Police Abuse and Division
by Amir Taghatihttps:\/\/t.co\/R9vljTNE3I<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n