Iran's deputy labour minister has confirmed that two million people have lost their jobs as a result of the country's conflict with the United States and Israel, with layoffs spreading well beyond factories destroyed in airstrikes to affect manufacturing, retail, import-export firms, and the digital sector. US and Israeli strikes on major petrochemical plants and steel mills in late March and early April, combined with disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz (the narrow waterway through which a large share of global oil trade passes), have severed supply chains and forced many businesses to halt production entirely. The crisis is compounded by a government-imposed internet blackout costing an estimated $35 million per day, official inflation exceeding 50 percent, and sharply reduced consumer spending — conditions economists warn could deepen significantly if sanctions or hostilities continue.