How Western sanctions on Iran have hurt the same middle class that drives reform

Iranians walk past shops in Tehran's Grand Bazaar on August 13. The prices of basic goods have risen in Iran, with an annual inflation rate of 42.4%, according to October figures from the IMF. Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

The Iranian middle class, long a force of political moderation, stability, economic growth, and the base of the country’s reform movement, is shrinking fast under the pressure of Western sanctions, researchers say. Left in its wake are rising societal resentments and an ever-increasing wealth gap.

A study published in the European Journal of Political Economy has used an innovative method to investigate the true extent and damage of Western sanctions on Iran since 2012 and how they have resulted in a dwindling middle class, leaving more Iranians to struggle on low i