How a US‑Engineered “Dollar Shortage” Drove Iran’s Currency Crisis and Protests
The United States has long used financial sanctions as a tool of foreign policy. But recent remarks attributed to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent go a step further: he openly described a strategy to “create a dollar shortage” in Iran, drive the rial into freefall, and contribute to a wave of mass protests.
According to your account, this policy coincided with some of the largest antigovernment demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In December 2025 and January 2026, shopkeepers in Tehran closed their stores, people took to the streets across multiple provinces, and the authorities responded with lethal force. Thousands are reported to have been killed in the crackdown, including minors.
At the center of this story is a powerful but simple idea: control over the US dollar, the world’s main trading currency, can be used to squeeze a country’s economy so hard that its currency collapses and its society erupts.
What Is a “Dollar Shortage”?
A dollar shortage happens when a country cannot get enough US dollars to:
Pay for imports such as food, fuel, medicine, and machineryService dollar‑denominated debtSupport its local currency in foreign exchange markets
Because most global oil trade, many loans, and key commodities are priced in dollars, the US currency is the backbone of the global system. When a country’s access to dollars is restricted:
The local currency plunges – people and firms bid up the price of each scarce dollar.Imported goods become unaffordable – prices in local currency jump.Inflation accelerates – especially for basic items like food and fuel.Confidence collapses – citizens try to move into dollars, gold, or real assets, making the crisis worse.
In Iran’s case, economists argue this was not just a natural market outcome. It was the intended result of a deliberate US strategy.
How the US Created a Dollar Squeeze on Iran
Economist Mohammad Reza Farzanegan (Marburg University) .