Businesses, universities and government offices stayed closed on Wednesday across most of Iran under a government-ordered shutdown, as the president struggled to address public frustration that has fueled mounting protests over the faltering economy and the government.
The one-day shutdown in 21 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including Tehran, the capital, came as President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday appointed a new central bank chief, the former economy minister Abdolnaser Hemmati. The president acknowledged that it was an “extremely difficult and complex” role that would subject the new bank head to intense pressure and criticism, according to state news media.
Iran’s inflation rate has spiked, driving frustrated merchants to the streets in Tehran and other cities, and prompting the abrupt resignation of the former central bank head, Mohammad Reza Farzin, on Monday.
In the interim, the protests have spread and drawn in demonstrators from across sectors and society, with the demonstrators increasingly also expressing frustration and anger at the regime over not only the economy but severe water shortages and more.
“We don’t want the Islamic Republic,” was among the slogans being chanted on Wednesday, according to videos shared by Vahid Online, a widely followed political and social news site.
On Wednesday, footage circulating on social media and verified by The New York Times showed protesters throwing objects at the gates of a government building complex in Fasa, in south-central Iran, and then shaking them until they opened.
Hamed Ostovar, the head of the judiciary of Fasa county, said that part of the glass and the guard post door of the building were damaged and that four protesters were arrested during the clash, in which three law enforcement personnel were injured, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
Ezzatollah Jahankhah, the special governor of Fasa, played down the incident, according to Iranian news media, saying some demonstrators had been “influenced by hostile channels and media,” and adding that the situation was resolved with “timely management and intervention of trusted people, local influential people.” He and Mr. Ostovar denied rumors that a protester had been shot.
The messaging from Fasa’s leadership, about protesters being in league with Iran’s enemies, echoed claims by Tasnim on Tuesday that “Zionist media outlets and figures” were “aiming to divert the people’s demands and turn the protests into chaos and riots.”
Mr. Pezeshkian, the president, and other officials have taken a different approach, acknowledging the economic woes and the legitimacy of the protesters’ complaints, while also alluding to forces pressuring Iran. On Wednesday, as he addressed the Parliament about the appointment of the new central bank chief, Mr. Pezeshkian said that criticism could improve governance, even as he pointed to external pressures, which he warned could exacerbate internal divisions.
Iran’s economy has long been hobbled by Western sanctions and mismanagement, and the 12-day bombing campaign in June by Israel, which the United States joined, has exacerbated its troubles.
President Trump, while meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Florida on Monday, threatened to strike Iran again if it tried to reconstitute its nuclear program. Mr. Pezeshkain responded on Tuesday with his own threat of retaliatory strikes.
Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, said on Wednesday that “peaceful livelihood protests” stem from “social and understandable realities,” but he warned that any attempt to use the economic protests to undermine security, destroy public property, or implement “externally designed scenarios” would be met with “a legal, proportionate and decisive response.”
Mr. Hemmati, the new central bank chief, outlined his priorities on Wednesday, saying the three main pillars of his agenda are curbing inflation, controlling the exchange rate by addressing corruption and other issues linked to the currency system, and shoring up Iran’s banks.
Iran has experienced waves of mass protests in recent years fueled by economic difficulties, restrictions on women and water issues. The government has often quashed the demonstrations with deadly violence and arrests.
Whether the steps the government has pledged to take, including discussions with demonstrators, can quell the unrest without similar brutality remains unclear.
On Tuesday, Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokeswoman for the government, told reporters that Tehran planned to establish a dialogue that would include protest organizers.
“We see how people these days are struggling intensely with their livelihoods,” she said. “We see, hear and recognize the protests, crises and constraints.”
This sympathetic rhetoric may not be enough to appease frustrated Iranians at this point.
“The recent protests were not the result of a sudden incident, but the accumulation of sustained pressure over time — something the authorities clearly anticipated,” said Omid Memarian, a senior Iran analyst at Dawn, a Washington nonprofit focused on U.S. foreign policy.
“The government’s decision to impose widespread shutdowns is an attempt to lower social tensions,” he said. “But with no real solutions to the worsening economic crisis, and no credible path out of it, such measures cannot contain public anger. The frustration runs far deeper than temporary restrictions can address.”
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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