Iran’s government has pledged to “listen patiently” to the concerns of protesters, as demonstrations prompted by the plummeting currency and dire economic conditions have spread from Tehran to several other cities.

Students took to the streets in the capital on Tuesday, while protests also broke out at universities and institutions in the cities of Isfahan, Yazd and Zanjan, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Ilna, a news agency associated with Iran’s labour movement, reported that protests were held at 10 universities across the country, including seven in the capital.

The demonstrations marked the third consecutive day of protests in Iran since shopkeepers near two main tech and mobile phone shopping centres, in Tehran’s Jomhouri area and near the Grand Bazaar, closed their businesses and took to the streets on Sunday in response to the rial plunging to record lows, forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.

The rial has been rapidly declining over recent weeks as the United States and its Western allies pile on sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and was trading at about 1.42 million rials to the US dollar when protests broke out on Sunday, compared with 820,000 rials a year ago.

The country’s economy, battered by decades of Western sanctions, has been under further strain since late September, when the United Nations reinstated international sanctions that had been lifted 10 years ago, linked to the country’s nuclear programme.

Government pledges to listen

Responding to the growing protests, a government spokesperson said the government would listen to the concerns of the demonstrators.

“The government will listen patiently, even if there are harsh voices, because we believe that our people are patient enough, and when their voices are raised, the pressure that is being put on them is high,” Fatemeh Mohajerani said at a news conference in Tehran.

“The government’s job is to hear the voices and help them reach a common understanding to solve the problems that exist in society.”

She said the government recognised the right to peaceful assembly.

“We see, hear, and recognise officially all the protests, the difficulties, and the crises.”

The comments came as President Masoud Pezeshkian met Tuesday with labour leaders and made proposals to tackle the economic crisis, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported.

Pezeshkian said he had instructed government officials to listen to protesters’ “legitimate demands” and pledged to protect their livelihoods, which he said was his “daily concern”.

Low public faith in government

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the Iranian public did not have faith in the government’s ability to address the economic problems.

“The president himself came out about a week or so ago and said that he can’t do anything about these problems,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Much of the lack of faith in the government’s ability to address these problems is actually because of statements by the government itself.”

He said the big question now was whether the protests would gather momentum and evolve into a broader channelling of public anger over issues other than the country’s economic problems.

“Protests at times can start based on economic grievances, which is the case here, but quickly morph into other demands,” he said, adding that the situation in Iran “both politically as well as economically, has been very bad”.

Multiple challenges

Iran’s economic problems are severe, with inflation at about 50 percent as well as a depreciating currency.

But they are far from the only challenges facing the country, which is also dealing with an exacerbating energy crisis, while most dams feeding Tehran and many other big cities remain at near-empty levels amid a severe water crisis.

The country also has one of the most restricted internet environments in the world.

Iranian state media reporting on the protests has emphasised that they are motivated by the unchecked depreciation of the rial, rather than wider disenchantment with the theocratic establishment that has been ruling the country since the 1979 revolution.

Iran last saw nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023, with thousands pouring into the streets across the country after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for alleged noncompliance with strict Islamic laws regarding headscarves.

Hundreds of people were killed, more than 20,000 were arrested, and several were executed in connection with the protests.

Move comes after Riyadh accused Abu Dhabi of backing separatists in Yemen and bombed what it said was an Emirati-weapons shipment in the port of Mukalla.

The United Arab Emirates has announced the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen, declaring an end to what it called “counterterrorism” operations there, after Saudi Arabia accused Abu Dhabi of supporting separatists in Yemen.

The announcement on Tuesday came after Yemen’s internationally recognised government demanded the UAE pull its forces from the country within 24 hours, a call backed by Saudi Arabia.

Hours earlier, Saudi Arabian-led coalition forces also attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla, targeting what Riyadh said was a UAE-linked weapons shipment destined for the separatist Southern Transition Council (STC) in Yemen.

The STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels, launched an offensive against the Saudi Arabian-backed government troops this month, seeking an independent state in the south.

The advance broke years of deadlock, with the STC ‌seizing control of broad swaths of southern Yemen, including the Hadramout and Mahara provinces, in defiance of warnings from Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia accuses the UAE of supporting the STC, but Abu Dhabi denies the claim.

Following Tuesday’s rapid-fire events, the UAE’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out a “comprehensive assessment” of its role in Yemen and decided to end its mission there.

“In light of recent developments and their potential implications for the safety and effectiveness of counterterrorism missions, the Ministry of Defence announces the termination of the remaining counterterrorism personnel in Yemen of its own volition, in a manner that ensures the safety of its personnel,” the statement said.

Widening rift

The Saudi-led coalition’s strike on Yemen’s Mukalla revealed the widening rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The two countries had once cooperated in a coalition against the Houthi rebels who control most of northern Yemen.

Emirati troops first arrived in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in 2015, but the UAE pulled out most of its forces in 2019, leaving only a limited number in the government-run south.

Following the Mukalla strike, which did not cause casualties, Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Saudi Arabian-backed presidential council, dissolved a defence pact with the UAE and gave Emirati forces 24 hours to leave.

In a televised speech, Alimi said it had been “definitively confirmed ‌that the UAE pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against the authority of the state through military escalation”, according to the Yemeni state news agency.

Saudi Arabia then issued a statement expressing disappointment over “pressure exerted by the UAE” on the STC to conduct military operations in the Hadramout and Mahara provinces near Yemen’s borders with the kingdom.

Riyadh said it considered the moves a threat to its national security.

“In this context, the kingdom stresses that any threat to its national security is a red line, and the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralise any such threat,” it said.

Riyadh also called on the UAE to heed al-Alimi’s call to leave Yemen and halt “any military or financial support to any party” in the country.

It was Saudi Arabia’s strongest language ⁠yet in the falling-out between the neighbours.

The UAE said it had been surprised by the air strike, and that the shipments in question did not contain weapons and were destined for the Emirati forces. But it said it sought a solution “that prevents escalation, based on reliable facts and existing coordination”.

Yemeni state television showed what it said was black smoke rising from the port in the early morning, with burned vehicles. Al-Alimi declared a no-fly zone, and a sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings for 72 hours.

However, the STC remained defiant, insisting there was “no thinking about withdrawal” from its newly seized positions.

“It is unreasonable for the landowner to be asked to leave his own land. The situation requires staying and reinforcing,” STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi told the AFP news agency.

“We are in a defensive position, and any movement toward our forces will be responded to by our forces,” he added.