Iran Reports 1 Million Job Losses as Annual Inflation Reaches 67%

An official in Iran’s labor and social affairs ministry said the war has put 1 million people out of work as top employers in the oil and manufacturing sectors have suffered damage. U.S. blockade represented a “new phase” of war.

“The enemy has pinned great hope on economic pressure,” he said. The Iranian government has urged Iranians to limit consumption of water, electricity and gas. Authorities in Tehran called on residents to use public transportation instead of their cars, while Iran’s steel industry encouraged companies to ration their use of steel sheets.

First vice president Mohammad Reza Aref admitted that prices for certain products soared by more than 100 percent in less than a week. The overall annual inflation rate hit 67 percent in mid-April from a year earlier according to Iran’s central bank. Residents of Tehran and other cities reported some prices shot up around 40 percent in the six weeks after the war started.

5 percent on the eve of war. A 56-year-old housewife in Tehran reported a block of cheese jumped 29 percent in price in the past week. Authorities are expected to approve a 40 percent price hike in cement.

Prosecutors in Tehran vowed to sentence price-gougers and hoarders of staple goods to 20 years in prison and flogging. The Iranian government has hiked wages, distributed cash to the poor, and issued coupons for staples like rice, chicken, and cooking oil. U.S.

8 million rial on Wednesday. The rial fell 8 percent during the first month and a half of the war and lost 60 percent of its value in the months after the 12-day war against Israel last June. State media estimated reconstruction could cost around $270 billion.