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Already suffering a 40 percent inflation rate and critical shortages of power and water, many in Iran expect conditions to get worse.
Farnaz Fassihi has lived and worked in Iran, has covered the country for three decades and was a war correspondent in the Middle East for 15 years.
Sept. 27, 2025, 2:56 p.m. ET
Iran’s economic situation, already dire with water and power shortages, staggering budget deficits and a devalued currency, is now expected to deteriorate even further.
On Sunday at 8 p.m., the United Nations Security Council is set to reimpose harsh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, after the failure of a diplomatic marathon on the sidelines of the General Assembly this week.
The U.N. sanctions are more sweeping than the current American sanctions against Iran. They stem from a dispute with Europe over Tehran’s adherence to the 2015 nuclear accord with Western powers and Iran’s decision to bar international inspectors from its nuclear sites after strikes by Israel and the United States in June.
The new sanctions would freeze assets and ban travel for a range of Iranian entities and individuals, and authorize countries to stop and inspect cargo traveling from Iran by air and sea on Iranian government vessels, including oil tankers.
The sanctions would also prohibit Iran from enriching uranium at any level, launching ballistic missiles with nuclear warhead capability and transferring technical knowledge of its ballistic missiles. They would also reinstate an arms embargo.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, called the prospective sanctions “unjust and illegal.”
“They want to topple us,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday in New York. “If you were in our place what would you do?”
