Iranian students staged street protests in Tehran on Tuesday, a day after the capital’s shopkeepers demonstrated against economic hardship and won a message of understanding from the president.
According to Ilna, a news agency associated with Iran’s labour movement, protests erupted at 10 universities across the country, including seven in Tehran that are among the country’s most prestigious.
Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan, Ilna and state-run IRNA reported.
On Tuesday, security forces and riot police were deployed at major intersections in Tehran and around some universities, according to AFP journalists, while some of the shops closed the previous day in the capital’s centre had reopened.
The student action came after Monday’s protests in central Tehran by shop-owners and a day ahead of the temporary closure of banks, schools and businesses in the capital and in most provinces to save energy during the bitterly cold weather.
The Iranian rial has dropped against the dollar and other world currencies — when the protests erupted on Sunday, the US dollar was trading at around 1.42 million rials, compared to 820,000 rials a year ago — forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.
Demonstrations erupted on Sunday at the city’s largest mobile phone market, before gaining momentum, though they remained limited in number and confined to central Tehran. The vast majority of shops elsewhere continued to operate as usual.
President Masoud Pezeshkian — who has less authority under Iran’s system of government than supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — met Tuesday with labour leaders and made proposals to tackle the economic crisis, according to press agency Mehr.
“I have asked the interior minister to listen to the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives so that the government can do everything in its power to resolve the problems and act responsibly,” he said in a social media post.
According to state television, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also called for “necessary measures focused on increasing people’s purchasing power” but warned against foreign agents and government opponents attempting to exploit the protests.
On Monday, the government announced the replacement of the central bank governor with former economy and finance minister Abdolnasser Hemmati.
Battered economy
Price fluctuations are paralysing sales of some imported goods, with both sellers and buyers preferring to postpone transactions until the outlook becomes clearer, AFP correspondents reported.
According to the Etemad newspaper, one trader complained that officials had offered no support to storekeepers battling soaring import costs.
“They didn’t even follow up on how the dollar price affected our lives,” he complained, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We had to decide to show our protest. With this dollar price, we can’t even sell a phone case, and the officials don’t care at all that our lives are run by selling mobile phones and accessories.”
In December, inflation stood at 52 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics. But this figure still falls far short of many price increases, especially for basic necessities.
The country’s economy, already battered by decades of Western sanctions, was further strained after the United Nations in late September reinstated international sanctions linked to the country’s nuclear programme that were lifted 10 years ago.
Western powers and Israel accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
The current protests against the high cost of living have not reached the level of the nationwide demonstrations that shook Iran in 2022.
Those protests were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Amini’s death triggered months of unrest, with hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, killed and thousands more arrested.
In 2019, protests broke out in Iran after the announcement of a sharp increase in petrol prices. The unrest spread to around 100 cities, including Tehran, and left dozens dead.
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The subtle change coming to America’s eggs and meat in two days… and the major implications it has for you
The ‘Product of USA’ label will be a voluntary label companies and manufacturers are allowed to put on their products. It is not a requirement.
In just two days, Americans may start noticing a change to the labels on their meat and egg products as a new rule takes effect.
In March 2024, Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary at the time, announced the finalization of a rule that will require that ‘Product of USA’ food labels only be used on products derived from animals that were born, raised and slaughtered within the US.
The new rule is set to take effect January 1, 2026 and will apply to meat, poultry and egg products.
Currently, regulations allow products derived from animals born, raised and slaughtered outside of the US to be labeled ‘Product of USA’ as long as they are at least packaged in America.
Vilsack said at the time: ‘Today’s announcement is a vital step toward consumer protection and builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to bolster trust and fairness in the marketplace where smaller processors can compete.
‘This final rule will ensure that when consumers see “Product of USA” they can trust the authenticity of that label and know that every step involved, from birth to processing, was done here in America.’
Advocates for the new rule claim the current loose regulations allow meat packers to sell subpar meat to people who think they are buying products from the US, which has specific laws and regulations surrounding animals raised for food.
The USDA said the new rule will ‘prohibit misleading US origin labeling in the market, and help ensure that the information that consumers receive about where their food comes from is truthful.’
Angus beef steaks and top sirloin fillets are displayed for sale in the meat area of a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store in California in 2024
The ‘Product of USA’ is a voluntary label companies and manufacturers are allowed to put on their products. It is not a requirement.
Advocates for the new rule also claim the loose regulations allow America’s largest beef packers to benefit from misusing ‘Product of USA’ labels, which hurts smaller form operations.
Daily Yonder reported large companies produce cheaper products on a mass scale by outsourcing to countries with fewer health and safety regulations for workers and animals.
The companies then may label their products as made in the US because they were packaged domestically.
Joe Maxwell, a long-time farmer and co-founder of the advocacy group Farm Action, said: ‘The abuse of the “Product of USA” label stripped America’s cattle producers of a vital opportunity to market their USA beef while denying consumers the opportunity to support them.’
He called the new rule ‘a huge win for America’s farmers, ranchers and consumers.’
Under the new rule in place next month, if any part of the meat raising and processing takes place outside of the US, the label cannot be used.
Additionally, if a product uses a state-specific label, all raising and producing of the meat must be done in that state or else a disclaimer must be added.
For example, the USDA, writes: ‘A label for a multi-ingredient poultry product that bears the outline of the state of Arizona must be accompanied by qualifying language that describes a processing step(s) that occurred in Arizona e.g., “Packaged in Arizona” if the poultry used was not born, raised, and slaughtered in Arizona, but was only packaged in Arizona.’
If a product contains other ingredients aside from meat, they must all be domestically derived in order to have the ‘Product of USA’ label. All of the preparation and processing for all ingredients must also have been done in the US.
The USDA lists several examples of products that would qualify for the label under the new rule, including a single-ingredient pork product derived from a pig born, raised and slaughtered in the US.
The agency defines ‘raised’ as in the US ‘from birth to slaughter.’
Additionally, a multi-ingredient meatloaf product label that has the statement ‘Made with US Beef’ can be approved if the labeling includes ‘sufficient support that the beef used in the product was derived from an animal born, raised and slaughtered, and the meat then processed, in the United States.’
Additional ‘meaningful information’ regarding the meat product’s preparation and processing includes language such as ‘sliced and packaged in the’ US, ‘cooked in’ a specific state and ‘harvested and processed’ in the US.
All products must contain ‘sufficient’ records and support that back up the claims made on the labels.
If a company wants to use a state-specific label, such as ‘Product of Idaho,’ the product must be from an animal born, raised, slaughtered, and the meat then processed, in that state, and there must be sufficient support in the labeling record for the claim.
Companies or facilities eligible for the label are those under voluntary inspection by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
To be approved for the label, they must ‘maintain, and provide FSIS access to, documentation sufficient to demonstrate that the product meets the regulatory criteria for use of the claim, and that the claim is not false or misleading, as the regulations require for the use of all generically approved labels.’
Documentation can include, among others, records from a ranch or farm on which the animal was born, raised and slaughtered, or records that prove the entire product was processed and packaged in the US or a specific state.
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Scott Jennings Blasts CNN Host for Trying to Downplay Rampant Fraud in Blue States (Video)
CNN’s Scott Jennings blasted host Abby Phillip for trying to downplay the rampant fraud fleecing American taxpayers in blue states.
The Gateway Pundit has reported on the massive fraud in the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota under Democrat Governor Tim Walz.
The extent of the fraud potentially reaches more than $9 billion in stolen taxpayer money.
Democrats have also cooked the books on crime statistics to downplay the danger in blue cities.
A police commissioner was placed on leave for falsifying crime data.
By reclassifying serious crimes as misdemeanors and counting convictions rather than charges or 911 calls, Democratic jurisdictions were able to claim crime was low prior to Trump’s deployment of federal troops.
Journalist Nick Shirley revealed a shocking report exposing millions of dollars of fraud involving Somali daycare centers in Minnesota.
Phillip tried to downplay the impact of the fraud and the abuse of American taxpayers.
“This idea that nothing is being done, that no one is being held accountable, that this was just left to run rampant, is completely false,” she claimed.
“Well, some people have been held accountable. But I think in the opinion of most Republicans, not nearly enough,” Jennings fired back.
“And truthfully, until somebody in a position of power, until somebody in a position in Minnesota, elected position, who was in charge of administering this or having some oversight over it, goes to jail, it’s honestly never going to stop.”
“Look what’s going on in blue states across the country: 9 billion in Minnesota, 70 billion in fraud in California, cooking the crime stats in Washington, D.C.”
“When is someone in a position of power going to go to jail for the rampant fraud?”
“You can put all the low-level people in jail you want, but until somebody in charge goes to jail, it won’t stop!”
Watch:
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