Hussain Hazbavi 
Across Iran, the country’s historic bazaar is openly defying the Islamic Republic, marking a dramatic rupture between conservative merchants and a state increasingly accused of sacrificing livelihoods for missiles, security forces, and regional ambitions.
For decades, Iran’s religious establishment and the merchant class — known as the Bazaaris — were inseparable allies. Bazaar merchants financed the 1979 revolution and famously funded the flight that returned Ayatollah Khomeini to Tehran. That once-solid alliance has now collapsed.
Forty-six years later, the Islamic Republic has alienated its oldest and most loyal constituency. For today’s Iranian merchant, commerce has become a losing battle. Inflation, driven by state mismanagement and sanctions, is routinely blamed on shopkeepers rather than policymakers.
Merchants who reject government-imposed pricing are accused of hoarding and market manipulation. Those who comply often sell at a loss, exhausting their capital and edging toward bankruptcy.
At the same time, importers face months-long delays in accessing state-controlled foreign currency, while exporters are forced to sell their earnings at artificially low rates under government pressure. The result is a paralyzed commercial sector — and a bazaar that no longer sees the state as a partner, but as an adversary.
