Iran faces renewed UN sanctions as inflation soars, fear of war grips public

As Iran’s struggling economy braces for the reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme, it is ordinary citizens who increasingly find themselves unable to afford basic food — and uncertain about what lies ahead.

The Iranian rial has hit an all-time low, pushing food prices ever higher and making daily survival more difficult. Essential items such as meat, rice, and other dietary staples have become unaffordable for many.

At the same time, concerns are growing about the potential for renewed conflict involving Iran, Israel, and possibly the United States. Missile sites targeted during the 12-day war in June are reportedly being reconstructed.

Human rights activists are also warning of a growing crackdown within the Islamic Republic, where authorities have already executed more people this year than at any time in the last three decades.

Sina, a father of a 12-year-old, spoke under condition of anonymity due to safety concerns. He described the current period as worse than the hardships of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and the sanctions that followed.

“For as long as I can remember, we've been struggling with economic hardship, and every year it's worse than the last,” Sina told The Associated Press. “For my generation, it's always either too late or too early — our dreams are slipping away.”

UN sanctions set to snapback

At 0000 GMT on Sunday (5.30 am Monday IST), unless a last-minute diplomatic solution is found, UN sanctions on Iran will be reinstated through a mechanism known as “snapback”, part of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Designed to be veto-proof at the UN Security Council, the measure cannot be blocked by China or Russia as they have with past efforts. Sanctions will once again freeze Iranian overseas assets, halt weapons sales, and penalise Iran's ballistic missile developments.

France, Germany, and the UK initiated the snapback, citing Iran’s reduced cooperation with nuclear monitoring efforts and stalled negotiations with the United States.

Following strikes on its nuclear facilities during the June war with Israel — which also involved American military action — Iran withdrew further from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s oversight. Despite this, Iran continues to hold a stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity — just a short step from weapons-grade at 90 per cent — theoretically sufficient for multiple nuclear weapons if Tehran opts for militarisation.

Iran insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful, although the West and the IAEA have said the country ran a weapons programme until 2003. Tehran has also challenged the right of the European nations to trigger snapback, highlighting the US withdrawal from the nuclear accord under President Donald Trump in 2018.

“The Trump administration appears to think it has a stronger hand post-strikes, and it can wait for Iran to come back to the table,” said Kelsey Davenport, a nuclear expert at the Washington-based Arms Control Association. “Given the knowledge Iran has, given the materials that remain in Iran, that's a very dangerous assumption.”

Davenport also warned of risks for Iran: “In the short term, kicking out the IAEA increases the risk of miscalculation. The US or Israel could use the lack of inspections as a pretext for further strikes.”

On Saturday, Iran recalled its ambassadors from France, Germany, and the UK for consultations ahead of the sanctions’ reimposition, according to state-run IRNA.

The economic fallout from the June conflict has worsened food inflation, making meat unaffordable for many lower-income households. Government figures placed annual inflation at 34.5 per cent in June, but the Statistical Centre reported that food prices rose over 50 per cent year-on-year.

The figures, however, fall short of what shoppers see daily. The price of pinto beans has tripled in a year; butter nearly doubled. Rice, a dietary staple, rose over 80 per cent on average, with some premium types doubling. Chicken is up 26 per cent, while lamb and beer have each risen by nine per cent.

“Every day I see new higher prices for cheese, milk and butter,” said Sima Taghavi, a mother of two shopping in Tehran. “I cannot omit them like fruits and meat from my grocery list because my kids are too young to be deprived.”

Mental health professionals report a rise in patients since June, amid heightened economic pressure and fears of renewed conflict.

“The psychological pressure from the 12-day war on the one hand, and runaway inflation and price hikes on the other, has left society exhausted and unmotivated,” said Dr. Sima Ferdowsi, a clinical psychologist and academic at Shahid Beheshti University, in an interview with Hamshahri newspaper in July.

“If the economic situation continues like this, it will have serious social and moral consequences,” she warned. “People may do things they would never think of doing in normal circumstances to survive.”

Execution surge raises alarm

Iran has faced multiple rounds of nationwide unrest in recent years, driven by economic frustration, demands for gender equality, and calls for political reform. The most notable recent wave followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, detained over her hijab.

In the aftermath of the 2022 protests and the more recent June war, the government has dramatically ramped up executions — at a rate not seen since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

According to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights and the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran, more than 1,000 people have been executed so far in 2025 — with the actual number potentially higher, as many are not publicly reported.

“Political and civic space in Iran has shrunk to nothing, and outside Iran, civil society activists and dissidents face transnational repression,” the centre said in a statement.

“The Iranian people, millions of whom aspire to more than a closed and brutal theocracy, have tried every option within their reach. Their leaders have not.”

With agency inputs