Subhan Dashti had already picked a date for his wedding.
asserted
Dashti → pick → wedding
He and his fiancee, Nadia Sabzi, together since 2016, had settled on Nowruz 1405, the Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 to 21.
asserted
which → settle → March
They had already started buying items for their future home, but then last year, prices started to climb.
asserted
prices → start → home
Political and social unrest followed, and then the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
asserted
States → follow → February
Dashti’s family fled Tehran for the north of the country, and preparations for their wedding stalled.
asserted
preparations → flee → wedding
When the fighting paused, the families returned to Tehran and the couple tried to resume their plans.
asserted
couple → pause → plans
But a television Dashti had budgeted at 70 million tomans ($302) now cost closer to 100 million tomans ($432).
asserted
Dashti → budget → tomans
Despite earning about 100 million tomans a month ($432) – well above average for an Iranian worker – he concluded that marrying immediately no longer made sense.
asserted
marrying → earn → sense
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asserted
conditions → rally → US
“We decided to postpone the wedding for at least a few more months,” Dashti, 35, said.
asserted
Dashti → decide → months
She has made peace with a smaller ceremony – a simpler dress, a modest hall.
asserted
She → make → ceremony
What she cannot make peace with is safety.
asserted
make → make → peace
A US strike in early September hit a house in Kuhestak, in southern Iran’s Sirik County, where a wedding celebration was taking place; Iranian authorities said several people were killed and dozens wounded, including women and children.
asserted
dozens → hit → women
“For the past two weeks, I have been asking Subhan at night: what if the war starts again when we are getting married?” Sabzi said.
asserted
Sabzi → ask → night
Their stalled wedding is one small sign of a larger crisis in Iran for young people.
asserted
wedding → stall → people
Across Iran, war, sanctions, inflation and shortages are shaping young couples’ marriage decisions amid a shifting focus on wedding costs, what a household requires and how far into the future anyone dares to plan.
asserted
anyone → shape → future
Simin Nouri, a bridal makeup artist in Tehranpars, said that during the summer’s peak wedding season, her salon once saw two or three brides a day.
asserted
salon → say → brides
Now it sees only two or three a week.
asserted
it → see → two
Prices are now even higher, she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
In Tehran, a regular bridal package costs about 70 million tomans ($302), while a VIP package can reach 150 million tomans ($648).
asserted
package → cost → tomans
Clients have not abandoned services entirely – they downgrade them.
asserted
they → abandon → them
They skip skincare and hair extensions, and book only makeup and hairstyling for the wedding night itself.
asserted
They → skip → night
“They still want to do these things,” she said, “but they go for the less expensive option.”
asserted
they → want → option
She noted that two of her own friends postponed their weddings outright.
asserted
two → note → weddings
One declined Nouri’s offer of free makeup paid later.
asserted
One → decline → makeup
“Because the makeup was never the real obstacle – the wedding itself was,” she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
Newlyweds – and a bill that keeps growing
asserted
that → keep → ?
Pejman and Sanaz, who met studying electronic engineering and asked that their surnames and university be withheld, married in July just after last year’s 12-day war.
asserted
surnames → meet → war
Their rent tells the story: a deposit and monthly rent that totalled roughly 34 million tomans ($144) a year ago now cost about 58 million tomans ($246) – a 71 percent rise for the same Tehran apartment.
asserted
that → tell → apartment
That includes a jump from a 300 million-toman ($1,296) deposit and 25 million tomans ($106) monthly rent, plus 1.5 to 2 million tomans ($6–$8) in building charges, to a demand from a new landlord of a 400 million-toman ($1,728) deposit and 46 million tomans a month ($198).
asserted
That → include → deposit
Pejman, 30, earns 56 million tomans a month ($242); the new rent alone would consume about 82 percent of it.
“Last year, just to cover the costs of starting our life together, we had to sell 13 grams of my wife’s gold,” he said.
asserted
he → earn → gold
That gold is now far more expensive to replace: 18-carat gold has risen from roughly 6.48 million tomans a gram ($28) in June 2025 to more than 23 million tomans ($99) by mid-September 2026.
asserted
gold → replace → September
A mid-range Tehran wedding for about 100 guests – hall, bridal services, clothing, photography, music and modest gold – now runs close to 1.1 billion tomans ($4,752), versus roughly 480 million tomans ($2,074) before the 2025 war, though costs vary by neighbourhood and provider.
asserted
costs → run → neighbourhood
Economist Amir Hossein Mohaddes separates the crisis into two problems: the cost of starting a household and the cost of sustaining one.
asserted
Mohaddes → separate → one
“A couple can make the wedding smaller.
asserted
wedding → make → ?
They can remove parts of the ceremony.
asserted
They → remove → ceremony
But they cannot remove housing,” Mohaddes said.
asserted
Mohaddes → remove → housing
He argues the more serious damage is unpredictability itself – couples cannot plan a few months ahead due to rapidly rising prices.
asserted
couples → argue → prices
He warns that even a ceasefire or a full halt of the war would not reverse this trend: a refrigerator that has doubled in price does not fall back on its own.
asserted
that → warn → own
Landlords who increase rents rarely lower them again.
asserted
who → increase → them
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
