'Rage Is Escalating' In Iran

People protest against an increase in gas prices on a highway in Tehran on Saturday. (Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

Washington Post: In Iran, 'rage is escalating' as economic stress reaches new level

ISTANBUL - A sudden move to raise fuel prices in Iran has sparked nationwide protests over the past week and, in turn, drawn a fierce crackdown by security forces, marking some of the worst violence in the country in years. Scores have been reported killed.

The protests have flared in many of the same areas that experienced unrest two years ago, when demonstrators protested a similar proposal to slash state subsidies. Then, as now, lower-income Iranians rose up against a system that they said had failed them economically.

But a wider spectrum of society may have joined the revolt this time around, analysts say, pointing to demonstrations in major cities and at universities, including the University of Tehran. Protesters have also clashed with police in urban centers such as Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz and Tabriz.

Over the past two years, Iran's economy has worsened because of U.S. sanctions and declining oil sales - revenue the government uses to pay salaries and fund imports. Iran's economy is expected to contract by 8.7 percent this year, according to the World Bank.

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WNU Editor: Iran's economy is going to shrink by about 10% next year .... maybe even more. Those are numbers signalling an economic depression with high unemployment and (to make it worse) rampant inflation. If I was living in Iran, I would be enraged also.