What does economic pressure on Iran look like? On social media, people are documenting it one receipt at a time.

A washing machine. A bag of groceries. A packet of chips.

On Iranian social media, everyday items are being used to illustrate rampant inflation. Videos juxtapose the purchasing power of the same amount of money from one or two years ago with its current value.

People capture supermarket shelves, photograph receipts, and make jokes about products that have become unaffordable for their households.

These posts are more than just complaints about rising prices. Collectively, they are forming an unofficial cost-of-living diary of a nation under significant economic strain.

An ‘economic onslaught’

On August 24, the Trump administration launched what it calls “Operation Economic Outcast”, a new campaign designed to further isolate Iran economically.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described it as an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s financial connections, saying its objective was to “sever every economic lifeline” sustaining the Iranian government.

The stated target is the Iranian state and the financial networks that support it. But economic pressure is not confined........

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