Businesses across Iran are cutting jobs, scaling back operations and facing possible closure as internet disruptions, inflation and the economic fallout from war deepen pressure on employers and consumers, according to messages sent to Iran International.
A nail and manicure instructor said her business had effectively stopped operating since March last year as customers struggling to cover basic expenses reduced spending on beauty services.
The woman said internet outages had also cut off income from selling online training packages. At the same time, the signal for her point-of-sale payment terminal had been disabled.
“When I followed up, they told me the signal for payment devices used by ‘non-essential businesses’ had been suspended indefinitely for security reasons,” she told Iran International.
Industrial firms report layoffs, bankruptcies
Messages received by Iran International also pointed to growing unemployment and bankruptcies in industries linked to petrochemicals, ports and construction.
Many workers who lost jobs or faced layoffs said they had turned to ride-hailing services such as Snapp or other unstable work to survive.
One worker in the industrial sector said the price of steel profiles used in construction had more than doubled since before the war, rising from 700,000 rials ($0.38) per kilogram to 1.55 million rials ($0.85).
“Because of these price increases, we’ve been unemployed for three months and can no longer afford raw materials,” he said.
Steel profile prices have risen between 120% and 160% over the past year, according to accounts sent to Iran International.
A cabinet-maker said the price of a single MDF sheet had climbed from 30 million rials ($16.50) last year to between 150 million rials ($82.50) and 170 million rials ($93) this year.
“With raw material costs rising 400% to 470%, continuing the business and paying rent is no longer possible,” he said.
Other citizens previously told Iran International that shortages of iron sheets and petrochemical materials in cities including Isfahan had forced many industrial workshops to close.
Port workers say wages delayed
Iran International also received reports of layoffs and business slowdowns in ports and logistics hubs.
An employee at Rajaei Port said many workers had been dismissed and those still employed often received salaries late.
“The port has become very quiet,” the worker said.
Rajaei, one of Iran’s main commercial ports, was hit by a major fire in May 2025 after what authorities described as an explosion involving a container carrying hazardous chemicals including sodium perchlorate. The blast killed dozens of people.
Several contractors linked to the port had already faced financial difficulties before the explosion and the subsequent war, according to workers familiar with the situation.
Another resident from Bandar-e Emam wrote that companies linked to the port had reduced staff and struggled to pay wages on time.
Iranian outlet Rouydad24 reported on May 7 that workers at Mobarakeh Steel had seen wages reduced to the official minimum despite earlier assurances that salaries would be paid without disruption following US and Israeli attacks.
The report said many skilled workers had turned to app-based taxi driving for income.
Restaurants squeezed by rising prices
Restaurants and food businesses have also come under pressure from higher prices and weakening consumer demand.
The owner of a fast-food restaurant in Lahijan, north of Iran, said the cost of ingredients changed so rapidly that menu prices had to increase almost daily.
“The ingredients for a sandwich sold today for one million rials ($0.55) may cost 1.1 million rials ($0.60) to replace a few days later,” the restaurant owner wrote to Iran International. “Customers are unhappy and we are also being hurt by the situation.”
The decline of the rial had pushed the monthly minimum wage including benefits down to roughly $88 in real terms.
A restaurant owner in Kish said he had already laid off more than 10 employees and now saw closure as the only remaining option.
Customers and business owners also reported sharp increases in fast-food prices, with some sandwiches selling for around five million rials ($2.75) and pizzas reaching 1.2 million rials ($6.60).
"At the moment, carpet exports have nearly reached zero," Abdolrahman Tasmim Ghatee, head of the union of handicrafts sellers and handwoven carpet producers in Fars province, told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), a semi-official labor-focused news outlet.
He said exports, which once stood at close to $2.5 billion, had fallen to less than $50 million in recent years, with little trade now taking place.
Market slump hits producers
Tasmim Ghatee said around 90% of the sector depended on tourism, especially foreign visitors, but international tourism had largely dried up.
"Some shops do not make a single sale during the week because there are simply no buyers," he said. "After paying for food and daily expenses, people have nothing left to spend on decorative goods, handicrafts and carpets."
He said the market downturn had worsened after the war that began in late February between Iran, Israel and the United States, which disrupted trade and deepened economic uncertainty, even as a fragile ceasefire remains in place.
Fighting has largely stopped, but tensions persist amid stalled negotiations between Washington, Tehran and Israel over sanctions, regional security and Iran's nuclear program.
Decades-long decline
Iranian handwoven carpet exports generated more than $2 billion in revenue in 1994, one of the industry's strongest years, before entering a long decline driven by sanctions, rising competition and weaker global demand.
Exports fell to $69 million in 2019 and just $2 million in the second quarter of 2020, according to customs data and industry reports. By March 2024, exports had dropped to $39.7 million from $426 million in 2017, according to officials cited by ILNA.
Industry figures have blamed US sanctions, trade restrictions, currency rules and stronger competition from India, Turkey, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan for the downturn. The United States, once a major market for Iranian carpets, reimposed restrictions on Iranian rug imports after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.
Weavers leave the trade
The number of carpet weavers in Fars province has dropped by about 80% from around 6,000 in 2018 to roughly 1,000 now, Tasmim Ghatee said.
"When carpets and handicrafts are not sold, naturally the weaver will not continue working," he said.
He described how rural women could spend six months weaving a carpet while covering raw material costs and household duties, only to find no market for the finished product.
"How can she start again?" he said.
Officials push digital sales
Gholamhossein Zanhari, head of the carpet department at Fars province's industry and trade office, said the sector needed safer export routes and stronger online sales to survive.
He pointed to regional markets including Armenia, Georgia, Oman and Turkey, as well as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, as potential destinations and said platforms such as Etsy and eBay could help producers reach consumers directly.
"Digitalization is not just a sales tool, but a way to maintain business continuity" during crises, he said.
Shiva Esmaili, Golrokh Iraee, Sakineh Parvaneh, Forough Taghipour, Zahra Safaei, Marzieh Farsi, Elaheh Fouladi and Varisheh Moradi were denied visitation rights in recent weeks after participating in memorial gatherings and protest-related events inside the women’s ward, sources familiar with the situation said.
Prison authorities have also increased surveillance and patrols inside the ward, with officers entering cells daily and sometimes at night under the pretext of inspections, a source close to prisoners’ families told Iran International.
Women prisoners in Evin had for years marked political and ideological occasions through gatherings, songs, readings and commemorations for killed protesters and veteran activists, the source said. Prison officials have recently intervened directly in such activities and threatened participants, the source added.
The source said some women recently transferred to the ward were also warned by prison and security officials after attending a small number of the gatherings.
Prison staff have in recent months used insulting language toward detainees and threatened them with transfer to solitary confinement, another source familiar with conditions in the ward told Iran International.
Prisoners face solitary confinement threats
Ghazal Marzban, another woman prisoner in Evin, was recently held in solitary confinement for five nights after protesting the handling of her case, a source familiar with the situation said.
The women’s ward in Evin, often described by activists as a focal point of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, has repeatedly issued statements and organized protests over executions, arrests, economic hardship and the suppression of demonstrations in Iran.
Prisoners in the ward have also staged sit-ins and hunger strikes against death sentences in recent years, after which some faced punitive measures including restrictions on phone calls, visits and new legal cases.
A source close to prisoners’ families said the growing restrictions and threats of solitary confinement reflected efforts by prison and security authorities to silence dissent inside the ward.
Prisoner with tumors denied urgent treatment
Separate information obtained by Iran International shows that Mohtaram Parandin, an imprisoned artist and painter known as Mahshar, has been denied urgent medical treatment despite suffering from two tumors near the cerebellum and throat as well as severe heart disease.
A source familiar with her condition said prison doctors had warned that immediate surgery was necessary because the tumor near her cerebellum had affected her vision, speech and movement.
“The effects of the illness are visible in the way she walks and speaks,” the source said.
Despite recommendations from prison medical staff, authorities have not approved her transfer for treatment and have also rejected requests for medical leave and conditional release although she has served more than half of her sentence, the source added.
The source said documentation required for temporary medical leave had already been submitted to the prosecutor’s office.
Parandin, the mother of a teenage son, became the head of her household after the death of her husband. Her son also suffers from a chronic illness and has faced difficulties during her imprisonment.
Rights groups and prisoners’ families have for years accused Iranian prison authorities of denying political prisoners adequate medical care, with several detainees dying in custody after prolonged illness or delayed treatment.
