Rachel Abrams: over the past week. Massive protests have erupted across Iran, calling for economic reform and an end to the regime.

Rachel Abrams: In recent days, a full picture of the government's crackdown on the protesters has emerged, garnering worldwide condemnation.

Speaker: We don't want to see what's happening in Iran happen.

President Trump: One thing, when they start killing thousands of people and now you're telling me about hanging, we'll see how that works out for them. It's not going to work out good.

Rachel Abrams: From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams and this is the Daily. Today, my colleague Farnaz Fihi on what's driving the protesters and why the Iranian regime has never been closer to collapse.

Rachel Abrams: It's Wednesday, January 14th. Fern, thank you so much for joining us.

Farnaz Fihi: Thank you for having me. Fernas, you have been covering Iran for decades and we at the Daily turn to you during these huge moments of disruptions, eruptions, which is what it feels like we are in right now in Iran. We're talking to you Tuesday afternoon at about 1:30 p.m. And I'd like for you to start off by characterizing what we are seeing on the ground.

Farnaz Fihi: For the past week, we've seen nationwide protests in cities big and small, across different demographics erupt all across Iran with a singular demand for the end of the Islamic Republic's rule.

Farnaz Fihi: And this is coupled with an external threat from the United States and Israel.

Farnaz Fihi: Uh that there might be a military strike on Iran and an economy that's in tail spin which is creating a very unique and difficult challenge for the government because it's facing a kind of a perfect storm. But we're also seeing the government brutally responding to these protests and violent crackdown unfolding with thousands of people killed and injured and bodies are piling up at the morg and at the cemetery as reports of the killings trickle out.

Rachel Abrams: So, I want to start with the protests themselves and what's going on inside the country. Can you just talk a little bit about what's driving people to the streets?

Farnaz Fihi: People are just fed up, Rachel. They feel like they've got nothing to lose. That this government is either unwilling or incapable of bringing the kind of change that people want to see in their lives. ranging from social freedom to political freedom and of course the economy which is fueling these protests.

Farnaz Fihi: Now we have to remember that Iran's economy has been in shambles for years. President Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran targeting its oil revenues and international banking structures in 2018 when he exited the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Farnaz Fihi: In the fall, the United Nations Security Council re-imposed UN sanctions on Iran through a mechanism known as snapback related to Iran standoff with Europeans in the United States over the nuclear program.

Farnaz Fihi: And from then the currency started falling even further than it had before. But in December, on December 28th, the real plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar and it sort of unleashed this wave of anger because when the currency free falls, it has a direct impact on inflation and on the prices of everyday goods, including food items.

Farnaz Fihi: Inflation is now around 60%. Prices of everyday goods such as cooking oil, rice, eggs, like staples of an Iranian grocery basket suddenly tripled overnight.

Farnaz Fihi: So this wave of protest that we're seeing now started in Thran's bazar, which is really the pulse of Iran's economy. The bazar is the equivalent of the stock market here, right? So when the bazaris go on strike it really can paralyze the economy. And the reason the bazaris went on strike was because the real was plunging against the dollar. The prices were fluctuating and they were facing too much instability.