In an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed meeting to reach a resolution to the years-long war between their two nations.

“We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention. Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelenskyy said in the letter.

“There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting. It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be,” he asserted.

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Zelenskyy suggested that Europe and the U.S. should also be involved in the peace process.

“Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors. We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation. We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world,” he said.

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He indicated that Ukraine would agree to a ceasefire during the proposed negotiations.

“Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want,” he noted.

He also suggested a prisoner swap between the two nations, noting, “Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war. Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war.”

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“If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us. But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes,” Zelenskyy warned Putin.

Tehran, Iran – In the popular Bastan market in the west of the Iranian capital, where the inviting smell of fresh bread and fruit mingle with the sight of colourful fabrics and clothing, the scene no longer holds its usual joy.

Passersby wander among the vendors’ stalls, carefully turning goods over only to return them to their places.

“Daily shopping trips have turned into something resembling a reconnaissance mission to find out the new prices,” says Mashhadi Firouz, a 63-year-old retiree, is reminiscing about his youth on this street when it was bustling with life.

Firouz is standing in front of the shelves in a large grocery store, turning items over one by one, searching for the prices listed on their packaging.

“A year ago, a kilo of rice was about 1.8 million rials ($1.31), but today it has crossed the 5-million-rial ($3.63) threshold,” he tells Al Jazeera. “Likewise, a bottle of cooking oil was about 700,000 rials ($0.51) until the spring of last year, but its price has now reached more than 3 million rials ($2.18).

“My pension does not even cover a third of the household expenses.”

He continues, exasperated: “We are witnessing a terrifying expansion of poverty, and not just extreme poverty, but what can be called the poverty of retirees and employees, as fixed-income earners are living below the poverty line for the first time in decades.

“We do not only complain about the high prices, but about their speed, which leaves us no chance to catch our breath.”

‘Counting eggs one by one’

Just a few metres away, Fatima, 46, a housewife and mother of three, tells Al Jazeera that she has to make multiple trips to the market each week just to stay ahead of the price rises.

“I now go to the market three times a week instead of once, not because I need anything, but to see if there is a seller who has goods at a lower price, or a commodity that the wave of inflation has not yet caught up with.

“Red meat has become a dream, chicken has become a mere guest on our table, and I have even started counting eggs one by one.”

Hearing about prices doubling within days or weeks is no longer unusual, Fatima says. But inflation is no longer an “earthquake that strikes everyone equally”, but rather a selective epidemic that preys on the vulnerable more than others.

When the price of food rises, a poor family can lose half its income to necessities it cannot do without, while a wealthier family may barely notice.

In the wholesale market in the “Narenj” area south of Tehran, Mehran, 71, a grocery seller, speaks about another face of the crisis. “Inflation has not only hit the buyer, but it has hit us, too,” he tells Al Jazeera. “Purchasing power has collapsed, and people are now buying only the essentials. Prices have doubled in less than four months, so we had to reduce the quantities offered, but we cannot find anyone to buy them.”

“In my 40 years of work, I have never seen a recession this bad, not even during the worst periods of sanctions.”

Mehrah isn’t even looking to turn a profit at this point, he says. “I am just trying not to go bankrupt and close the shop I inherited from my father.”

Rampant inflation

A new report by the Central Bank of Iran revealed a historic jump in the annual inflation rate, reaching 77.2 percent year-on-year in the period between April 21 and May 20, with a monthly increase of 8.5 percent compared with the previous month. Furthermore, point-to-point inflation for goods reached 113 percent.

This is Iran’s highest inflation rate since 1942, during World War II, which triggered the collapse of food supply chains and soaring prices.

Arman Khaleghi, head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, points to what he describes as a “perfect economic storm” of five factors that have all poured down simultaneously on the Iranian economy.

“We are facing a deadly intersection between the elimination of the preferential currency [the subsidised exchange rate for providing basic goods], which caused food prices to soar; the protests the country witnessed at the beginning of this year, which disrupted the market system and compromised the country’s security; followed by the [US-Israeli] ‘Ramadan War,’ which is not devoid of devastating inflationary effects,” he tells Al Jazeera.

“These were followed by the annual increases in wages and energy prices at the beginning of the new Persian year, and finally the naval blockade that hindered import and export chains.”

As for the impact of the war, Khaleghi believes it was not just the military shock, but a “panic-driven demand engine” that radically changed consumer behaviour.

“With the outbreak of the war, people rushed to hoard basic goods, such as food and detergents. Demand jumped despite there being no real shortage in the markets, and this feverish rush alone is enough to drive up prices.”

This, in turn, has triggered a production shock. The damage inflicted on primary industries, led by petrochemicals, drove up packaging costs for the food, pharmaceutical and detergent industries. Furthermore, problems in the steel sector have diffused into the car and home appliance sectors, he says, transmitting the contagion of inflation from the factory to the store shelf.

Khaleghi points to an external factor that acted as the “knockout blow,” namely the maritime blockade that has made travelling to Iran a perilous mission for cargo ships. In this regard, he says, “Even the mere news of a ship being targeted immediately raises prices, let alone the existence of actual difficulties and palpable shortages that have forced the search for more expensive alternative land routes. This has plunged the import process into a dark tunnel and spread a sense of impending scarcity in the market, translating into skyrocketing prices.”

Regarding the figures, Khaleghi addresses the paradox of increased workers’ wages and salaries at the beginning of the year against inflation that has exceeded all official expectations. He reveals the hidden tragedy, saying, “The decision to raise wages and salaries was intended to compensate for the effects of the removal of the preferential currency rate and to preserve the purchasing power of the working class. However, the increase, which seemed substantial on paper, proved entirely insufficient in reality. The result is a sharp decline in real purchasing power, which begins by devouring household savings, then preys on health, medical, and education budgets, until it ultimately impacts daily sustenance.”

Khaleghi warns of a vicious cycle closing in on the economy, stating, “We are in a situation where the state itself is bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown. Tax revenues, which were supposed to offset part of the cost of the preferential currency reforms, are also shrinking. Thus, we are faced with an impossible equation: the citizen’s income is melting away, the state’s income is eroding, and prices continue to soar to heights unseen in decades.”

‘Standing on the edge of an iceberg’

Over in Tajrish Square on the north side of the city, where a popular market appears packed with customers at first glance, conversations with shop owners soon tell a completely different story.

“You would think the market is alive, but it is clinically dead,” Reza, 47, a shop owner, tells Al Jazeera.

“People come here because the market is the last free place for entertainment. They wander aimlessly, remembering the days when they used to enter shopping malls and leave with bags that filled their car trunks. Today, however, they might not buy anything, and I do not blame them. As a merchant myself, I can no longer afford to buy what I sell.”

Reyhaneh, 32, an accountant, says: “Every day, I pass by here, and I make sure to buy something, but I feel sad when I see hundreds of people wandering around with empty hands. They did not come just to look at the prices, but many of them leave when confronted with the exceedingly high prices.”

Her husband, Mahmoud, 37, a lecturer at a private university, joins the conversation, telling Al Jazeera, “You might hear here about inflation exceeding 300 percent for some goods, and you might think it is a sudden shock caused by the war. But the truth is that these figures would not have been possible if not for structural diseases accumulated over decades of relying on oil revenues.

“The country used to cover its wounds with petrodollars, and now that the effect of the anaesthetic has worn off, all the ailments have surfaced at once.”

Looking at shelves crowded with goods, Mahmoud argues, “What worries me is not just the price hikes, but the experts’ estimates of the consequences of flawed economic policies that have not yet emerged, because they have effectively hidden behind the noise of the war.

“This means we are standing on the edge of an iceberg; what we see now is only the tip. To make matters worse, we are stuck in a state of neither war nor peace, and this state of suspension is the worst poison that can afflict an exhausted economy.”