Financial Tribune |  Khosro Kalbasi: With car prices hiking north of 30% over the past three weeks in Iran, local media and officialdom have rushed in to lay the blame at the feet of auto dealers and online marketplaces.

Since Washington imposed new sanctions against Tehran last summer, car prices—just like the cost of every other commodity—have been on an upward trajectory.

In the latest round of media frenzy over skyrocketing car prices, online marketplaces were branded as “dealers’ lair” by local news outlets for jacking up prices on an hourly basis.

Reportedly, hubristic dealers create numerous accounts on online sale websites like Divar, Sheypoor and Bama for posting several ads for a single vehicle in which the same car is priced differently.