TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hold on the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting global energy shipments and sparking worldwide economic hardship, yet the Islamic Republic's internal economic difficulties are severely testing its resolve to endure the war and reject U.S. demands.

Ordinary Iranians face skyrocketing costs for essentials like food and medicine. Concurrently, widespread layoffs and business shutdowns have resulted from war-related strikes on vital sectors and the government's extended internet blackout.

The financial toll from the conflict and American naval restrictions "has been immense and without precedent in Iran," noted Hadi Kahalzadeh, an economist from Iran and research fellow at Brandeis University.

Nevertheless, Iran has endured years of sanctions and economic isolation, preserving its adaptability, according to Kahalzadeh.

"Iran might prevent a full economic breakdown or critical shortages, but the price would be steep," he explained. "Ordinary citizens would bear the brunt via intensified inflation, rising poverty, declining public services, and far tougher daily existence."

The International Monetary Fund forecasts a roughly 6% contraction in Iran's economy over the coming year. Iran's national statistics agency indicated in mid-April that yearly inflation hit 53.7%, with food inflation exceeding 115% from the prior year.

At the same time, the Iranian rial has depreciated by more than 50% over the last year, plummeting to an all-time low of 1.9 million per dollar by month's end. These pressures ignited nationwide protests in January.

Under a Tehran overpass, 56-year-old taxi driver Hossein Farmani waited with peers for fares. He fetched a kettle from his trunk and poured tea, lamenting the dramatic price surges. Tea and milk costs have jumped over 50% since the war started.

"If this trend persists, we'll face even greater hardships," Farmani remarked.

Prices had been rising gradually for two years, but a recent Associated Press visit to Tehran markets revealed sharp increases since pre-war February: chicken and lamb up 45%, rice 31%, eggs 60%.

Officials have rolled out relief steps for soaring costs, but initiatives like a 60% minimum wage boost and vouchers for basics are fueling more inflation, wrote Tehran University economist Taymur Rahmani in the business daily Dunya-ye Eqtesad.

Free bus and metro rides in Tehran since the war's onset are further hurting taxi operators.

Nearby, 73-year-old driver Mohammad Deljoo supported his two children on $4 daily earnings. He noted ample shop supplies but pointed to "profiteering" as the issue.

"We stick to necessities like bread and potatoes. Eggs are now unaffordable," Deljoo said. Car tires and parts have quintupled in price within a year.

"Prices shift daily - how can that happen?" he wondered.

With unemployment rising, many seek alternative income. Ride-hailing worker Ali Asghar Nahardani, 32, hasn't been paid for over a month and now vends on streets to survive.

"We're scraping by daily amid these war conditions," he said.

The strait closure has driven up global energy costs. Inside Iran, the war accelerates the erosion of a once-thriving middle class after decades of sanctions.

By 2019, the middle class comprised about 55% of Iranians, per Mohammad Farzanegan, Middle East economics professor at Germany's University of Marburg. Fresh sanctions, conflicts, graft, and policy failures have shrunk it further.

The war could drive millions into poverty, warned a late-March U.N. development agency report.

A downtown Tehran fitness trainer called the downturn a societal mental health emergency. Clients have dropped off due to costs, leaving her to counsel remaining ones on depression symptoms.

"Everything's crumbling - factories, firms, startups, all sectors," she shared via anonymous Telegram voice note, citing security risks.

She's slashed her grocery budget: "Haven't bought meat in two months." Post-divorce therapy is on hold; her psychology master's studies help manage stress.

A Karaj resident near Tehran said his insurer faced collapsing car and home policy sales as families sink into destitution. He joined January's anti-regime protests and decried "rampant corruption" plus funding for militants in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq.

"The regime's overreach draws public ire," he messaged via WhatsApp, anonymously.

Leaders seek to bolster morale with empathy calls while pressing endurance for victory.

New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, reportedly injured early by Israeli attacks and absent publicly, posted on Telegram Friday framing the fight as an "economic front," urging bosses to minimize firings.

Parliament head Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, pivotal in war and U.S. negotiations, called for thrift on Telegram, stressing mutual aid between officials and citizens to mitigate strains.

The U.S. blockade chokes Iran's Gulf commerce; over 90% of trade, especially lucrative oil, passes southern ports, Farzanegan estimated.

Taxi driver Farmani rejected a "degrading" U.S.-Israel peace.

"A nation of martyrs and devoted fighters won't bow to foreign dictates."