People walk past a display sign at a currency exchange bureau as the value of the Iranian rial drops in Iran's capital Tehran on Dec. 20, 2025. (Credit: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters)
Iran's government said on Tuesday it would seek dialogue with protest leaders following popular protests in Tehran and other cities over the depreciation in the currency's value. The subsequent accelerated inflation led to the resignation of the central bank chief.
Shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar and others held protests on Sunday and Monday, according to Iranian state media.
Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a social media post late on Monday that he had asked the interior minister to listen to "legitimate demands" of protesters. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the government intends to set up a mechanism for dialogue which would include talks with protest leaders.
"We officially recognize the protests ... We hear their voices and we know that this originates from natural pressure arising from the pressure on people's livelihoods," she said on Tuesday in comments carried by state media.
The Iranian rial has been falling as the economy has suffered from the impact of Western sanctions, sinking to a record low on Monday at around 1,390,000 to the U.S. dollar, according to websites monitoring open market rates.
"We have fundamental measures on the agenda to reform the monetary and banking system and maintain the purchasing power of the people," Pezeshkian posted on X.
Iranian media have said the government's recent economic liberalization policies have put pressure on the open-rate rial market, where ordinary Iranians buy foreign currency.
In 2022, Iran was buffeted by protests across the country over price hikes, including for bread, a major staple.
Over the same period and into 2023, the country's clerical rulers faced the boldest unrest in years touched off by the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police, tasked with enforcing strict dress codes.
Iranian security services suppressed previous rounds of protests with violent crackdowns and widespread arrests rather than dialogue.
Iran remains under intense international pressure, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying on Monday, in a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he would consider backing another round of Israeli airstrikes if Tehran resumed work on ballistic missiles or any nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. and Israel carried out 12 days of airstrikes on Iran's military and its nuclear installations in June aimed at stopping what they believe were efforts to develop the means to build an atomic weapon.
Iran says its nuclear energy program is entirely peaceful and that it has not tried to build a nuclear bomb.
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