article_snippet.sent: the economy shrank after sanctions were intensified in 2012 and the value of the Rial, the Iranian currency, plunged to one-third of the U.S. dollar.
article_snippet.sent: Inflation soared and the bank accounts of ordinary Iranians were frozen overseas as a result of sanctions.
article_snippet.sent: Despite the regime's propaganda that claimed the program enjoys wide support among people, critics inside Iran publicly denounced nuclear policies.
article_snippet.sent: Ahmad Shirzad, a former member of parliament, denounced the program last year and said the program had been "against national interests.
article_snippet.sent: Another critic, Sadeq Ziba, said in December "the nuclear program has hurt Iran more than the war.