New U.S. sanctions are expected to hit Iranians hard
TEHRAN, Iran — President Trump announced he is reimposing all sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the nuclear deal. Eight countries will be allowed to continue buying Iran's oil. But the new measures are expected to hit Iranians hard.
CBS News met with Reza Eidiyuon, who uses his family's car as his taxi. He, like everybody else in Tehran, is worried about the U.S. sanctions.
The government has made sure basic services like trash collection are working normally, and it's kept gas prices low at about 90 cents a gallon. But prices in general have skyrocketed. Eidiyuon said that's for "cheese, for butter, for jam, for meat, for chicken, everything."
The first round of U.S. sanctions sent Iran's currency into free fall, and last month, inflation topped 30 percent.
Now, one butcher named Mohammed said his poorest customers can't afford his meat, so he gives them a deal.
The White House may be betting hardship will provoke the kind of anti-government uprisings that erupted here in 2009, but right now there seems little appetite for it.
In Tehran, one man said the harder the U.S. pushes, the more people will resist. In a wealthier area, CBS News met the Hossein family. Disgusted with both the U.S. and Iranian governments, Essam, an accountant, is voting with his feet.
"I want to escape from Iran," he said, adding he wants to go to France.
But very few get to leave, and the majority are trapped by a political standoff that can only make things worse.
