On January 8th, the twelfth day of mass protests in Iran, which began when shopkeepers, responding to runaway inflation, closed Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, the Iranian government shut down public access to the internet, further shrouding an already largely closed society.
—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
17 Jan. 2026
Iran’s regime has been trying to crack down on the protests, which began in late December with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial.
Because of Venezuelans’ eroded spending power, markets are less busy than even a few months ago, according to merchants and customers.
—
Mery Mogollon,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
Otherwise disparate segments of Iranian society, such as the conservative Bazaari merchants hitherto largely loyal to the clerics and more liberal and secular Iranian youth, shared this overarching goal.
For now, data on Monday showed no clear sign that authorities stepped into the market in Tokyo last Friday, though traders still cannot rule out a small-scale intervention.
—
Erica Yokoyama,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
Crowded bearish positions now carry greater risk in an era where retail traders can quickly mobilize capital and amplify moves.
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