Inside Iran’s war economy

Even before the bombs began to fall, Iran’s economy was in a bad way. Six in ten working-age people were unemployed. Prices had risen by 35% in the past year. Some 18% of the population was living below the World Bank’s poverty threshold. Despite exporting gas and oil, Iranian officials had to burn mazut, a low-grade refining byproduct, to keep the lights on. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s leader, then went after economic targets. Amid attacks on military bases and nuclear facilities, Israeli planes bombed at least two gas fields, a few oil fields and a car factory.