Any serious account of Iran’s crisis must confront both the external sanctions regime and the internal machinery that manages crisis through austerity and repression. Any serious account of Iran’s crisis must confront both the external sanctions regime and the internal machinery that manages crisis through austerity and repression. The state has attempted to manage volatility through multiple exchange rates, preferential foreign exchange and discretionary import permissions, turning political access into profit. Between 2019 and 2022, Debsh Tea, a privately owned importer and producer, received billions of dollars in preferential foreign exchange earmarked for essential imports. The Daroyar reform—a 2022 overhaul of drug subsidies—ended preferential foreign exchange for medicine and shifted the subsidy to an insurance-based reimbursement system.