DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Year-on-year inflation in Iran climbed in May to a level not seen since World War II, underscoring the financial strain on ordinary citizens as the Islamic Republic grapples with fears of renewed conflict involving Israel and the United States.

A Monday report from Iran's Central Bank marks the first official confirmation of what shoppers, commuters and patients already experience daily: The rial has weakened sharply due to the recent war and lingering uncertainty about its return.

At the same time, persistent issues of poor economic oversight and official corruption continue to weigh on Iran's oil-dependent economy, which remains subject to a U.S. naval blockade.

Such economic stress has previously triggered widespread protests, a scenario the theocracy has sought to prevent following a January crackdown that left more than 7,000 dead, according to activist counts.

Even as hard-liners conduct weapons training sessions and stage weddings near ballistic missiles to lift morale, analysts warn that fresh unrest could arise if families can no longer afford basic necessities.

"I have no doubt that if Trump leaves (Iran without a formal peace deal) ... most probably, we will see something like January by the end of summer because of the economic and social situations," analyst Mohsen Jalilvand said in a video released by Iran's Fararu news site.

Iran's Central Bank reported that the consumer price index for a standard basket of goods and services rose 77.2 percent in May from a year earlier. The figure also stood 8.5 percent above April levels. Prices for everyday essentials such as medicine, taxi rides, tobacco and phone services surged 113.8 percent over the same period.

The country last recorded worse inflation in 1942 amid World War II, when British and Soviet forces occupied the nation, seized its railway and disrupted food distribution. Combined with a weak harvest, the shortages triggered hyperinflation and famine, claiming many lives through hunger and typhus.

The Bamdad Institute of Economic Studies, a private Iranian research group, called the latest numbers "an unprecedented rate since World War II." Iran's Central Bank offered no comment on the historic context.

Airstrikes earlier this year severely hit Iranian businesses and the oil sector. The U.S. blockade has further restricted crude exports, a vital source of foreign currency, while tax collections have fallen as companies struggle even after the fighting eased.

The rial, which stood at 32,000 to the dollar in 2015, now exceeds 1.7 million to the dollar.

"We will definitely have higher prices," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian cautioned in May. "We are fighting and we must accept this hardship."

Food-price spikes in 2017 and 2018 led to protests that killed more than 20 people and resulted in hundreds of arrests. Later gasoline-price hikes sparked further demonstrations that reportedly claimed over 300 lives.

The rial protests at the start of this year then became the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution and its turbulent aftermath.

Tehran economist Saeed Leilaz told The Associated Press that annual inflation in Iran could approach 80 percent.

"Iran's society cannot tolerate above 25 percent" annual inflation, he said.

Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran.