Traders at Tehran’s Aladdin and Charsou mobile phone complexes shut their shops and staged street protests on December 28, halting trade in Iran’s largest digital devices hub as the rial slid to fresh lows and sharply higher handset registry fees wiped out pricing certainty, according to local media and traders' social media accounts.

The walkout shows a breakdown in Iran’s consumer-facing import economy, where extreme currency volatility, rising state-imposed costs and collapsing purchasing power have combined to freeze transactions rather than merely inflate prices.

Unlike previous protests driven by falling margins, traders say the current shock has removed the ability to price, restock or hedge, turning exchange-rate instability into an operational standstill with spillover risks for employment and tax receipts.

The protest, which spilled onto Jomhuri Street near Hafez Bridge by mid-afternoon, followed a spike in the open-market dollar to IRR1,445,000, up from IRR1,370,000 a day earlier and IRR1,140,000 a month ago.

The stoppage underlines how exchange-rate volatility is paralysing consumer markets already squeezed by inflation above 50%.

Mobile retailing, dependent on imported stock and government-set registration charges, is acutely exposed. With the rial moving intraday, traders say they cannot set prices or replace inventory, freezing supply and demand at the same time.

“Prices change between morning and afternoon,” said a shopkeeper who joined the protest. “If we sell today, we don’t know whether we can restock tomorrow.”

Another trader called the situation “unworkable,” saying trust between buyers and sellers had “collapsed.”

Currency moves rippled across assets. The euro traded above IRR1,700,000 and sterling near IRR1,950,000. The benchmark Emami gold coin jumped IRR100,000,000 on the day to IRR1,695,000,000, adding to a IRR60,000,000 weekly rise.

The pressure has been compounded by higher handset registry fees. Industry data show the traveller import registry charge for the iPhone 17 Pro Max rising to IRR700,000,000, with the iPhone 17 Pro at IRR620,000,000. Even mid-range models face higher levies, pushing retail prices up by 15–20% since early December, according to sellers.

Protests spread beyond Aladdin and Charsou, with videos showing merchants in the Shoush market joining stoppages. Chants focused on living costs and the currency slide. One protester said continued volatility meant “closure is the only outcome.”

“With moment-to-moment inflation, no one can work,” said Ahmadreza Firouzabadi, describing inflation as a “contagion” that spares no group, while others voiced scepticism. “They go home, wait for prices to rise, then come back to sell at double,” said Mehdi, a customer interviewed near the complex.

The unrest came hours after President Masoud Pezeshkian defended the government’s draft budget for the year starting March 21, telling parliament that curbing inflation was the top priority and that the plan aimed to be deficit-free with overall spending up just 2%.

He acknowledged pressure on households and pledged a commodity voucher scheme to stabilise basic prices, while criticising costly fuel subsidies.

For traders on Jomhuri Street, assurances rang hollow. “This is ‘unacceptable’,” said one vendor, echoing a common refrain. “If it continues, we shut.”