Iran's economy is facing rising pressure as tensions with the United States intensify, with the national currency, the Iranian rial, plummeting in weeks, driving prices higher and squeezing household budgets.
Over the past weeks, the rial dropped sharply, sliding from about 140,000 tomans to nearly 160,000 tomans per U.S. dollar, marking one of its steepest declines in recent months. One toman is equal to 10,000 rials.
The climbing gold prices also intensified fears over inflation and the rising cost of living.
"Everything has become more expensive. Even in chain stores, prices have gone up by around 30 percent," said a resident.
"Everything is becoming more expensive, which puts a lot of pressure on us. We're in difficult situations as we have less work. As prices rise, goods cost more, so we have fewer customers," said another.
In an interview with China Global Television Network, Iran's former minister of economy, Ehsan Khandouzi, stated that the military strikes in June 2025, and the recent internal riots are crucial factors impacting Iran's economy. "In my view, the macroeconomic decisions Iran needs to make and the path it needs to change are very clear. You cannot use Iran's economic indicators over the past eight months to represent the long-term state and trend of the Iranian economy. Why? That's because, during this period, we have witnessed two unprecedented events which we almost never seen over the past forty years," he said.
On the possibility of external forces placing further pressure on the country's economy, Khandouzi said the current situation has already been difficult enough.
"The sanctions list against Iran -- covering both banking and oil -- have already been so extensive that there are hardly any new areas to raise pressure further," he said.
Soaring prices squeeze Iranian households amid US military threats
China has increased transportation capacity in its air, highway and railway systems to handle a busier 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which is set to begin on Monday and expected to see 9.5 billion cross-regional passenger trips.
Each year during the period, millions of people working, studying, or living away from their hometowns return for the Spring Festival, China's most important traditional holiday, forming the world's largest annual human migration.
The railway network in China has geared up to meet the growing travel demand. It is capable of scheduling over 14,000 passenger trains per day during the peak period of the travel rush, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent in transportation capacity.
"By analyzing data flows, we are now capable of tracking passengers' demands and dynamically managing transportation capacity in areas such as ticket purchasing, waitlist management, and transportation capacity adjustments so that the transportation resources will be used more effectively to meet passengers' travel needs," said Zhang Zhiqiang, head of the operation support department at the China Railway 12306 Technology Center.
During the travel rush, China's civil aviation sector is expected to schedule an average of 19,400 flights per day, increasing by 5 percent year on year.
Helping meet capacity, a new terminal was put into test operation at Sanya Phoenix International Airport on Sunday to facilitate smooth travel in the island province of Hainan, which is a popular tourism destination for people from home and abroad during the Spring Festival holiday.
The country is also expected to handle record-high daily self-driving trips and highway traffic volume during the travel rush period.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on February 17 this year. The official holiday lasts nine days, with the travel rush running through March 13.
China increases transportation capacity to handle busier Spring Festival travel rush
