By Tim Lister, Aida Karimi, CNN
(CNN) — Asal, a freelance designer in her 30s living in Tehran, used to get projects from abroad all the time.
But after nearly two months without the internet, she told CNN by phone, “no new projects, no replies. It’s like everything just stopped overnight.”
On the verge of tears, she said her income doesn’t even cover her basic expenses anymore. She and others who spoke with CNN for this story asked only to use their first name for privacy reasons.
Asal is one of several million Iranians for whom Iran’s conflict with the United States and Israel is deeply personal. They have lost their work and are being pushed into poverty.
Few sectors have been spared. Among the legions of newly unemployed are refinery and textile workers, truck drivers, flight attendants and journalists.
Iran’s economy was in a dire state before the conflict. National income per person had fallen from about $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024, ravaged by inflation, corruption and sanctions.
The outlook is even worse. Up to 4.1 million more people could fall into poverty due to the conflict, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The physical damage caused by thousands of airstrikes has caused widespread displacement, according to the UNDP. More than 23,000 factories and firms have been hit, media outlet EcoIran has reported.
That’s cost one million jobs directly, says Iran’s Deputy Work and Social Security Minister, Gholamhossein Mohammadi. And the spillover has pushed another million people out of work, the Iranian publication Etemad Online has estimated.
Disruption to shipping, and therefore imports, has also disrupted Iran’s already fragile economy, “placing 50% of Iranian jobs at risk and pushing an additional 5% of the population into poverty,” according to Hadi Kahalzadeh at the Quincy Institute, a foreign policy think tank.
“Many firms have suspended operations under the combined pressure of war, inflation, recession, and collapsing demand,” writes Kahalzadeh.
The annual inflation rate in March reached 72%, but was much higher for essentials, according to official data.
Israeli airstrikes last month on huge petro-chemical complexes have left thousands of workers on unpaid leave. Iran’s largest steelworks were also struck, but two of them – Mobarakeh Steel and Khuzestan Steel – deny they have laid off any employees.
Still, the massive damage to heavy industry is rippling through the economy. Trailer-maker Maral Sanat, headquartered near the border with Azerbaijan, laid off 1,500 workers for lack of steel. One of Iran’s biggest textile firms – Borujerd – laid off 700 workers.
Many dairy plants have suspended operations because of shortages of essential packaging materials, says Kahalzadeh at the Quincy Institute.
Soheila, a senior flight attendant, told independent news site Fararu that o