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Iran Leader Bars Layoffs as Inflation Hits 53%, Rial Plummets

5/14/2026

47 3 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei urged employers to refrain from layoffs as inflation surged.
Annual inflation reached 53.7 percent, pushing food prices up 115 percent year-over-year.
The rial fell to a record low of 1.9 million per dollar.
Taxi driver Mohammad Deljoo said his family survives on a $4 daily budget and blamed price gouging for unaffordable eggs.

History

Historical Context

In 2012 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked factories to keep workers as the rial fell to about 12,000 per U.S. dollar. The same rhetoric reappeared in 2025 when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged employers to avoid layoffs while the rial traded above one million per dollar. Both appeals reflect a pattern of political pleas amid chronic currency collapse and soaring prices.

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Story summary

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei urged employers to refrain from layoffs as inflation surged.
Annual inflation reached 53.7 percent, pushing food prices up 115 percent year-over-year.
The rial fell to a record low of 1.9 million per dollar.
Taxi driver Mohammad Deljoo said his family survives on a $4 daily budget and blamed price gouging for unaffordable eggs.

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