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Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-protests-economy-sanctions-religious-police-11664891763
Iran's Crippled Economy Shrinks Middle Class
(Wall Street Journal) Benoit Faucon - The protests that have gripped Iran for three weeks started over a headscarf, but are morphing into a broader movement fueled by middle-class anger over the country's collapsing economy. Complaints by Iran's large urban middle class have driven the demonstrations in dozens of cities, turning from women's rights to demands for an end to the country's Islamic system of governance. Iran's middle class kept growing over the past four decades to 60% of the population, with a strong education system churning out doctors, lawyers, engineers and traders. Now, the middle class is under pressure from 50% inflation and a currency, the rial, that fell to its lowest levels ever this year. Today, the middle class has shrunk to less than half the country. According to a poll a year ago by the University of Maryland, 63% of Iranians blame domestic economic mismanagement and corruption, rather than sanctions, for the country's financial woes.