The Islamic Republic News Agency reported unauthorized rallies in the city of Shiraz, capital of the southern Iranian province of Fars. The news outlet also said that there were a few clashes between the protesters and the police but the city streets were calm at the moment.
The Tasnim News Agency said that protests were also held in the city of Mashhad in the north-east of the country, while other media reported protests in the cities of Isfahan, about 250 miles south of the country's capital and the city of Karaj just outside Tehran.
Iran already saw a wave of mass protests against high unemployment rates and poverty in late December 2017 - early 2018 when tens of thousands of people took part in rallies across the country with at least 20 of them killed.
In late June, a group of Iranian lawmakers addressed a letter to the president calling for the dismissal of three ministers, including the economy minister, who they believed were responsible for the poor state of the economy.
Over the last few months, the black market value of Iran's national currency, the rial, plunged to its record low of over 100,000 rials to the US dollar, according to media reports, while in March the exchange rate did not exceed 50,000 rials for the US dollar. This came in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose economic sanctions both on Iran and countries that continue to do business with Tehran.
Comment: Clearly Iran's economic problems are in large part because of the ongoing embargo on the country so any complaints about the state of the economy should be directed towards the West and its allies. But then, as has historically been the case with these kinds of protests, while they may involve citizens with legitimate concerns, they're often subverted by nefarious Western organizations with the aim of destabilizing the country to the benefit of the West:
- Iran Protests Through the Prism of Geopolitics
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- US sanctions with benefits: China ready to take Total's share of Iran's oil company
- German minister tells India to ignore "irritating" US pressure and keep buying Iranian crude
- Iranian President to meet EU leaders to discuss nuclear deal, wars on Syria and Yemen, trade
Also check out SOTT radio's:Behind the Headlines: Atlantic Trade War? How Trump Breaking Iran Deal Could Dismantle US Empire