More misery to come

Iranians fear an even more painful squeeze on living costs after additional US sanctions take effect on Monday, from businesses struggling to buy raw materials to the sick and elderly unable to afford life-saving medicines. The United States will reapply curbs to the country’s vital petroleum and banking sectors on Monday in an effort to rein in its arch foe’s nuclear, missile and regional activities. Iran’s clerical rulers have played down the US move, but many ordinary Iranians appear apprehensive. “All the prices are going higher every day ... I cannot imagine what will happen after 13 Aban. I am scared. I am worried. I am desperate,” said elementary school teacher Pejman Sarafnejad, 43, a father of three in Tehran.

“I cannot even buy rice to feed my children or pay my rent.” The daily struggle to make ends meet has been getting harder for months: The economy was battered by the reimposition of the first draft of US curbs in August after Washington’s pullout from a nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers in May. Foreign businesses of all types, ranging from oil companies, trading houses to shipping, have stopped doing business with Iran for fear of incurring US penalties.