Tehran -2020-2020 -

The Iranian economy, which had already been facing significant challenges due to US sanctions, was hit hard by the pandemic. The country's oil exports, a major source of revenue, had declined significantly due to the sanctions, and the pandemic further exacerbated the situation. The Iranian rial, the local currency, had depreciated sharply against major currencies, making it difficult for businesses to import essential goods.

U.S. "maximum pressure" sanctions, reinstated after 2018, made Tehran’s 2020 crisis worse. The city could not import ventilators, testing kits, or even basic PPE. The Iranian rial hit a record low of 250,000 to the USD on the black market in October 2020. Tehran -2020-2020

For historians, the keyword will serve as a timestamp of a capital that survived four existential shocks—war threat, pandemic, sabotage, and economic strangulation—all within 366 days (2020 was a leap year). The Iranian economy, which had already been facing

While the world watched Wuhan, Tehran became the Middle East’s first major COVID-19 epicenter. The Iranian rial hit a record low of

The year 2020 was a historically tumultuous period for , marked by extreme geopolitical tensions, domestic tragedies, and the onset of a devastating global pandemic . For the residents of the Iranian capital, the year began with a series of shocks that set a tone of uncertainty and mourning for the months to follow. A Violent Start: Geopolitics and Tragedy