News / Middle East

Shops Remain Closed After Iran Currency Clashes

In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, an Iranian fire fighter extinguishes a burned motorcycle in a street in central Tehran, near Tehran's old main bazaar, October 3, 2012.
In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, an Iranian fire fighter extinguishes a burned motorcycle in a street in central Tehran, near Tehran's old main bazaar, October 3, 2012.
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VOA News
Shops in the Iranian capital's main bazaar have mostly remained shut Thursday, a day after riot police clashed with protesters upset by the plunge in the nation's currency, the rial.

Witnesses said only a few shops were open and that police were patrolling the area in central Tehran. 

Shopkeepers shut down their stalls Wednesday as police fought with protesters and arrested money changers.

The rial has lost about a third of its value this week.

Value of RialValue of Rial
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Value of Rial
Value of Rial
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected growing domestic criticism of his policies amid the slide.  He blames the plunge on what he called "psychological pressure" by Iran's enemies.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that international sanctions on Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program have had an impact. But she said Iranian leaders and their decisions that have nothing to do with sanctions are responsible for Iran's economic problems.

She said the sanctions could be remedied in short order if Iran is willing to work sincerely with the international community on its nuclear program.

Iran's Fars news agency quoted Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani this week as saying he believes 80 percent of the country's economic problems are linked to government mismanagement.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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by: Godwin from: Nigeria
October 04, 2012 11:04 AM
Iran will achieve a nuclear weapon at all costs, least of all is the life of its citizens. Iran wants to ethnic-cleanse the earth. Its target is not as much as Israel as it regards America - USA - as the world polluter of the social and religious ethics, as well as turning the world to atheism. The current Ayatollah sees himself as the messenger of God to return sanity to the earth, and the way to do it is dislodge America from control of world system. Seeing it as impossible through any other means, some nuclear bombs all over the United States will put an inevitable end to America's dominance.

Europe will simply fall in line and make peace at Tehran's conditions. As Netanyahu intimated us at his UN speech, the muslims who die consequentially are necessary casualties of war, and so the mullahs will be more than ready to give same treatment to Europe if the region dares Tehran. So the economic sacrifice of Iranians is nothing to worry Ahmadinejad and his mentors, even if it leads to deaths. They are already accounted for as long as they succeed in producing weapons of mass destruction and the victory won over the enemies "of God".

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