Early on Sunday, the United Nations renewed sanctions against Iran due to its nuclear program, further tightening the grip on the Islamic Republic as its citizens worry about their futures and are increasingly priced out of the food they need to exist.
Among other things, the sanctions will penalise any advancement of Iran's ballistic missile program, stop arms sales with Tehran, and once more freeze Iranian assets abroad.Using a tactic known as "snapback," which was part of Iran's nuclear agreement with international powers in 2015, it came at a time when Iran's economy was already in ruins.
The record low value of the Iranian rial puts further pressure on food prices and makes day to day living even more difficult. This covers rice, meat, and other dining table essentials in Iran.
In the meantime, missile sites hit during the 12 day conflict in June now seem to be being rebuilt, raising concerns about a fresh round of fighting between Iran and Israel and possibly the United States.
In the Islamic Republic, which has reportedly executed more individuals this year than in the previous three decades, activists fear a growing wave of repression.
The nation has never encountered such a difficult period, even during the hardships of the 1980s Iran Iraq war and the subsequent decades of sanctions, according to Sina, the father of a 12 year old child who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used out of concern for potential consequences.
Sina told The Associated Press, "We've been dealing with economic hardship for as long as I can remember, and every year it's worse than the last."
"For my generation, it's always either too late or too early our dreams are slipping away."
Sanctions against Iran will "snapback." Since China and Russia had already advocated additional measures against Tehran, Snapback was intended to be veto proof at the UN Security Council, meaning they could not stop it alone.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, described them as an Iranian "trap" on Saturday.
