Iranian trade unions agree to reopen Tehran bazaar after protests

Iran's trade unions agreed Thursday to reopen Tehran's grand bazaar, the economic heart of the Iranian capital, a day after a series of protests forced the shut-down of some shops and business centers there. On Wednesday, Tehran's central area, including currency exchange region and grand bazaar, became the scene of protests over depreciation of local currency, rial, against foreign currencies. Riot police were deployed Wednesday in the center of Tehran after some protesters "tried to incite unrest and disorder" in Tehran's currency exchange district and grand bazaar. Police clashed with illegal currency exchangers and protesters in Ferdowsi district and detained several of them, a witness told Xinhua. On Thursday, a prosecutor in the Iranian capital Tehran announced that 16 people related to creating "disorder" in local currency market have been arrested, the semi-official Mehr news agency. The prosecutor was quoted as saying that 16 "main elements behind disorder in the currency market," who took advantage of the "enemy's psychological war" to make more interests "illegally" and "to serve the interests of the foreigners to create disorder in the economy of the country," have been arrested. According to Mehr, the chiefs of Iranian trade unions, including producers, distributors and technical service unions, agreed in a Thursday meeting to reopen Tehran's bazaar from Saturday with the attendance of security forces. The union leaders said the current problems in their business and deals are the result of the government's performance in the economic sector. They also blamed the government for causing "destructive effect " on the country's economy with its "wrong decisions," according to the report. On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West has launched an "economic battle" against the Islamic republic. The instability in Iran's currency market was not caused by the government's economic policies, the Iranian president said, adding that it emerged due to the "psychological war" followed by the " economic war" of the West. The significant slump of rial's value since the beginning of this year, due to heavy pressure by the U.S. sanctions on Iran's central bank in January, has had a considerable impact on the lives of common people in the country. The UN Security Council imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran between 2006 and 2010 over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which Western countries suspect could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The United States and European Union have imposed and expanded sanctions of their own over the years despite Iran's insistence on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. According to semi-official Fars news agency, one U.S. dollar was traded for 29,500 to32,000 rials in the exchange centers on Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday, one U.S. dollar was traded for about 36,500 rials in Tehran's street market, the lowest exchange rate for rial since the beginning of the new Iranian year, which started on March 20, whereas a year ago the same amount of dollar was traded for 13,000 rials. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that sanctions on Iran could be "remedied in short order" if the Islamic Republic works sincerely with the international community over its controversial nuclear program. Acknowledging that sanctions have had an impact on Iran, as the country's currency has sank to a new low in its value over the past days, the top U.S. envoy stressed that "Those could be remedied in short order if the Iranian government were willing to work with the P5+1 and the rest of the international community in a sincere manner." "Our goal has been and remains to persuade the Iranian regime to negotiate seriously in good faith with the international community over its nuclear program, to fulfill its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency and to the United Nations, and to do so expeditiously," she told reporters after meeting with her Kazakh counterpart Yerlan Idrisov at the State Department. She stated that putting pressure on Iran by applying sanctions is part of the dual-track approach adopted by Washington to force Iran to negotiate "a peaceful resolution" to the "many legitimate questions that surround their nuclear program and ambitions." "I think the Iranian government deserves responsibility for what is going on inside Iran," she said. Iran has held three rounds of talks with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, the so-called P5+1, over its uranium enrichment program since mid-April, but made no breakthrough.