'Just To Survive': Soaring Inflation Puts Iranians' Lives On Hold

After getting engaged last year, Ramin, an Iranian pharmaceutical salesman, had planned to get married this year. Instead, as soaring inflation has upended everyday life in Iran, the couple's goal now is "just to survive."

With the future uncertain amid country's protracted war with the United States and mounting economic pressure, the two decided to put their plans for married life on hold and continue living separately with their families, Ramin told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

Despite earning 35 million tomans (around $150) a month -- slightly above what some market researchers estimate to be the nationwide poverty line for a household in Iran. Gone, he says, are simple pleasures such as buying his fiancee a gift or taking her to a cafe.

Like others interviewed for this article, Ramin asked to be identified by a pseudonym for security purposes.

After years of international sanctions, Iranians are used to going without. As the war with the United States -- which began on February 28 -- drags on, more and more have told RFE/RL the economic situation is nearing "unbearable."

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According to Tejarat News, a website that covers economic issues in Iran, the country's misery index, the sum of its inflation and unemployment rates (published by the Iranian Statistics Center), reached 96 percent in June-July.

With regional figures ranging from 83.5 percent in the capital to 120.6 percent in the western province of Ilam, it is the highest level the index has reached so far this year.

Separately, as Washington unveiled in August what US officials have described as some of the toughest sanctions yet against Tehran, the Iranian currency hit new lows, trading at more than 200,000 tomans to the dollar.

'Can't Keep Up With Tomorrow's Prices'

Karen, an 18-year-old Iranian who is preparing to enter university, described the economic situation in the country as "catastrophic."

What might have been an exciting start to his student life has become overshadowed by a lack of prospects in Iran, with his plans and aspirations becoming unattainable dreams, he said.

"I once thought nothing could stop me from achieving what I wanted. Now I cannot even think about those things. They are so distant and out of reach," Karen explained. "No matter how hard you work, you cannot keep up with tomorrow's prices."

"The worst part is that people have become used to it," he added.

As price increases in Iran have shifted from a monthly occurrence to a daily and even hourly one, some Iranians have had to cut back on essential purchases and significantly adjust their diets.

Solmaz, a government agency employee who lives in Tehran, said her family’s consumption of meat, including poultry, has been cut in half, adding that fish is now off her family's menu and affordable only to well-off households.

Recently, major Iranian online retailers Snapp and Digikala have expanded their installment payment plans to include groceries, allowing shoppers to spread the cost of basic goods such as meat and cooking oil over time.

Beyond cutting back on food, Solmaz said she has completely stopped getting together with friends at the cafes and going to the gym. Each trip from Tehran's center to the western part of the city costs her around 300,000 tomans, she added.

'We've All Become The Same'

While Iran has been shaken this year by the brutal crackdown on January's nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the deteriorating economy and by the subsequent war with the United States, frustration over rising prices now seems to cut across internal political divisions.

The daughter of a religious family that supports the Islamic government, Faranoosh, 18, said "all citizens" are affected by the economic conditions in the country and struggle "heavily" because of them.

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She added that even though regime supporters "don't blame" the government, "they're fed up with high prices."

They "believe that a [limited] number of people within the ruling establishment are responsible for theft, embezzlement, and the government's inefficiency, and are trying to create discontent," Faranoosh explained, whereas "those who oppose the government say the entire system and structure are flawed and corrupt from top to bottom."

Whether they support the regime or not, she said half of the people who go to a cafe don't order any food -- they have no money: "It used to be hard and embarrassing to say this. But now we've all become the same."

 
'Just To Survive': Soaring Inflation Puts Iranians' Lives On Hold

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