Iran: Merchants in main Teheran market stage strike

Merchants in Teheran's main market on Sunday closed their shops in protest of a new sales tax despite the government's announcement that it would suspend the measure for two months. Gold, carpet and textile merchants participated in Sunday's strike against the 3 percent value-added tax that was imposed in September. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his government to suspend the new tax for two months on Thursday, a day after a rare strike by merchants worried about how the new measure would affect their business. Merchant strikes have been rare in Iran over the past three decades. A series of merchant strikes helped lead to the 1979 Islamic revolution, with store owners joining clerics to help topple King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.