Reuters interviewed dozens of business owners across Iran and found that hundreds of companies had suspended production and thousands of workers were being laid off because of a hostile business climate mainly caused by new US sanctions.

The Iranian rial has fallen to record lows, and economic activity has slowed dramatically since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Tehran in May.

Unemployment in Iran is already 12.1%, with 3 million Iranians unable to find jobs.

A parliamentary report in September warned that rising unemployment could threaten the stability of the Islamic Republic.

LONDON — Tamnoush, an Iranian company that makes fizzy drinks, has shut down its production line after 16 years and laid off dozens of workers. It was facing massive losses as US sanctions pushed up the price of imported raw materials.

"All our 45 workers are jobless now," CEO Farzad Rashidi said. "The men are driving taxis, and women are back to being housewives."

Reuters interviews with dozens of business owners across Iran show that hundreds of companies have suspended production and thousands of workers are being laid off because of a hostile business climate mainly caused by new US sanctions.

The Iranian rial has fallen to record lows, and economic activity has slowed dramatically since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the big powers' nuclear deal with Tehran in May.

He imposed sanctions directed at purchases of U.S. dollars, gold trading, and the automotive industry in August. Iran's vital oil and banking sectors were hit in November.

"We have lost around 5 billion rials" — $120,000 at the official rate — "in the last few months, so the board decided to suspend all activities for as long as the fluctuations in the currency market continue," Rashidi said. "It is stupid to keep driving when you see it's a dead end."

The country has already experienced unrest this year, when young protesters angered by unemployment and high prices clashed with security forces. Official projections indicate unrest could flare up again as sanctions make the economic crisis worse.

Four days before Parliament fired him as labor minister in August for failing to do enough to protect the jobs market from sanctions, Ali Rabiei said Iran would lose 1 million jobs by the end of the year as a direct result of the US measures.

Unemployment is already running at 12.1%, with 3 million Iranians unable to find jobs.

A parliamentary report in September warned that rising unemployment could threaten the stability of the Islamic Republic.

"If we believe that the country's economic situation was the main driver for the recent protests, and that an inflation rate of 10% and an unemployment rate of 12% caused the protests, we cannot imagine the intensity of reactions caused by the sharp rise of inflation rate and unemployment," the report said.

The report added that if Iran's economic growth remains below 5% in the coming years, unemployment could hit 26%.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast that Iran's economy will contract by 1.5% this year and by 3.6% in 2019 because of dwindling oil revenue.

Producers struggling

Iran's vice president has warned that under sanctions Iran faces two main dangers: unemployment and a reduction in purchasing power.

"Job creation should be the top priority," Eshaq Jahangiri said, according to state media, adding, "We should not allow productive firms to fall into stagnation because of sanctions."

But business owners told Reuters that the government's sometimes contradictory monetary policies — alongside fluctuations in the foreign-exchange market, price increases for raw materials, and high-interest loans from banks — have made it impossible for them to stay in business.

Many have not been able to pay wages for months or have had to shed significant numbers of workers.

A manager at the Jolfakaran Aras Company, one of the biggest textile factories in Iran, told Reuters that the firm was considering halting its operations and that hundreds of workers might lose their jobs.

"Around 200 workers were laid off in August, and the situation has become worse since," said the manager, asking not to be named. "There is a high possibility that the factory will shut down."

Ahmad Roosta, the CEO of Takplast Nour, was hopeful that a drought in Iran would provide a boost for his newly launched factory, which produces plastic pipes used in agriculture.

"I will wait one or two months, but I will have to shut down if the situation remains the same," Roosta told Reuters, adding, "The farmers, who are the main consumers of our products, cannot afford them."

The sanctions have affected the Iranian car industry, which had experienced a boom after sanctions were lifted two years ago and it signed big contracts with French and German firms.

The French carmaker PSA Group suspended its joint venture in Iran in June to avoid US sanctions, and the German car and truck manufacturer Daimler has dropped plans to expand its Iran business.

Maziar Beiglou, a board member of the Iran Auto Parts Makers Association, said in August that more than 300 auto-parts makers had been forced to stop production, threatening tens of thousands of jobs in the sector.

A representative for Iran's Tire Producers Association blamed the government's "changing monetary policies over the last six months" for problems in the sector.

"Fortunately, tire factories have not slowed down, but the production growth that we had planned for was not achieved," Mostafa Tanha said in a phone interview from Tehran.

Youth unemployment

An anti-US mural in Tehran, Iran. Thomson Reuters

Washington says economic pressures on Tehran are directed at the government and its malign proxies in the region, not at the Iranian people. But Iran's young people, bearing the brunt of unemployment, stand to lose the most.

Maryam, a public-relations manager in a food-import company, lost her job last month.

"The prices went so high that we lost many customers," Maryam said, adding, " In the end, the CEO decided to lay off people and started with our department."

She said the company had stopped importing, and people who still worked there were worried that it might shut down after selling off its inventory.

Youth unemployment is already 25% in a country where 60% of the population of 80 million is under 30.

The unemployment rate among young people with higher education in some parts of the country is above 50%, according to official data.

Armin, 29, has a mechanical-engineering degree but lost his job in the housebuilding industry when the sector was hit by a recession following the fall of the rial.

"The property market is slowing because high prices have made houses unaffordable," he told Reuters from the city of Rasht in northern Iran, adding, "It is getting worse day by day."

Nima, a legal adviser for startups and computer firms, believes sanctions have already affected many companies in the sector that depended on an export-oriented model and hoped to expand in the region.

He said even the gaming industry in Iran had felt the sanctions pinch: "The situation has become so severe that many of these teams decided to suspend development of their games and are waiting to see what will happen next. Without access to international markets, they see very little chance of making a profit."

Saeed Laylaz, a Tehran-based economist, was more sanguine. He said that youth unemployment was a product of Iran's demographics and government policies and that sanctions were only adding to an existing problem.

"The sanctions, the uncertainty in the market, and Rouhani's zigzag policies have put pressures on the economy and the job market, but I predict that the market will find a balance soon," Laylaz told Reuters, referring to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

"We will defeat this round of sanctions as we have done in the past," said Laylaz, who met Rouhani last month with other economists to offer advice on economic policies.