Iran: Signs of New Protests Against Rise in Prices

A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS
A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS
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Iran: Signs of New Protests Against Rise in Prices

A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS
A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS

Signs of a new round of protests emerged in Tehran, after the rise in prices hit the foreign exchange market, pushing the dollar to a record high in two years.

Angry Iranians gathered on Sunday in front of the Central Bank headquarters, chanting slogans condemning the officials and demanding the resignation of the central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati.

The latter was the center of recent speculations, as political circles in Tehran reported that he could run for the presidential elections scheduled for May 2021.

Iranian security forces cordoned off the streets leading to the bank, according to eyewitnesses’ reports on social networks.

Meanwhile, the government adopted security measures and arrested officials to reduce popular discontent.

Quoting the Iranian police chief, ILNA news agency reported that the authorities launched a new unit called the “economic security police” to counter economy breaches.

For its part, Fars Agency of the Revolutionary Guards quoted Colonel Nader Moradi, Deputy Commander of the Greater Tehran Police for Supervision of Commercial Venues, as saying that the police forces will “legally confront the officials of the home appliance unions who trade in goods with the aim of selling them at high prices that exceed the approved rates.”

The price of one dollar rose in recent days to 180,000 Iranian Rials, the highest record reached since August 2018, in parallel with the implementation of the US sanctions.



Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year -. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File
Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year -. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File
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Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year -. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File
Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year -. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File

The head of Israel's domestic intelligence service said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bid to sack him followed his refusal to fulfil requests that included spying on Israeli protesters and disrupting the leader's corruption trial.

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, said that Netanyahu's March move to dismiss him was not based on professional grounds but was prompted by unmet expectations of personal loyalty to the prime minister.

In response, Netanyahu's office said it would soon deliver a detailed refute of Bar's affidavit, which it called "false". Netanyahu's move to sack Bar fuelled protests in Israel and was suspended by the Supreme Court, after political watchdogs and opposition lawmakers argued the dismissal was unlawful. Critics say that the government is undermining key state institutions and endangering the foundations of Israeli democracy. Netanyahu's Likud party has accused Bar of acting against the prime minister and turning parts of the Shin Bet service into "a private militia of the Deep State." Israel's government has backed Netanyahu, who said that he had lost confidence in Bar over the agency's failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, a security failure that had led to the country's deadliest day, Reuters reported.

But in the unclassified part of his affidavit, Bar argued that the quest to oust him began more than a year after the attack. He cited a series of events between November 2024 and February 2025, which he said appeared to prompt the prime minister's moves against him.

Bar also said he refused to sign off on a security request aimed at preventing continuous testimony by Netanyahu at his corruption trial. Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, began testifying in his long-running court case in December.