The Iranian authorities have imposed a ban on the sale of notebooks with covers featuring Walt Disney characters, according to the head of the Tehran Stationery Union.
In an interview with the Tejarat News website on September 5, ahead of the new school year on September 23, Musa Farzanian said that violators face fines and the possibility of having their businesses sealed off.
Farzanian said that government agents are regularly conducting checks in stationery stores to enforce the ban.
He also mentioned the many challenges facing the stationery sector, which has been hit hard by an annual inflation rate of 60 percent.
According to him, a box of 24 colored pencils is now considered luxury products due to the “limited purchasing power of families.”
Farzanian emphasized that the unexpected decrease in sales has led many stationery businesses to repurpose their premises into storage areas, grocery stores or restaurants, particularly in Tehran.
