Iranians protest against America and Israel. Illustrative photo: Wikimedia Commons.

“Don’t buy cars; prices will go down!” “No to new cars,” blare the headlines in an Iranian social media campaign that some government officials blame for fuelling the country’s economic malaise. “Shoddy and expensive domestically made cars should be reasonably priced and have appropriate after-sales service,” insists a Facebook post.

The motor industry — Iran’s biggest non-oil sector and employer of half a million people — has become the latest symbol of the country’s economic stagnation and the public’s declining purchasing power after years of international sanctions and political populism under the previous government.

Read full story at the Financial Times.