Foreign media are trying to show the effects of Western sanctions on Iran's economy over its suspect nuclear program by covering chicken crisis news in Iran.

Associated Press reported,  An Iranian news agency reports people have poured into the streets of a northeastern city to protest a steep hike in the price of chicken.

The Monday report by the semiofficial ISNA news agency said people gathered in main square of Nishabur, a city of 270,000 about 950 kilometers (600 miles) east of Tehran.

Protesters blamed mismanagement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration, but the rare demonstration could be an indication of effects of Western sanctions over Iran's suspect nuclear program.

The sanctions have led to collapse of Iran's currency and to subsidy cuts, raising prices of basic commodities.

According to The National, Iran's national police chief ventured boldly this month into what has become known as the country's "chicken crisis".

The soaring price of a staple food that Iranians relish, cooked with saffron, plums or pomegranates, has become such a hot topic of public debate - and a sign of the sinking purchasing power of many Iranians - that Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, the police chief, felt it his duty to intervene.

He urged television stations to avoid broadcasting images of people eating chicken because such pictures could fire up social tensions, with perhaps unforeseen consequences. "Certain people witnessing this class gap between the rich and the poor might grab a knife and think they will get their share from the wealthy," he said.

As far as is known, no one has gone to that extreme, but as Iran's economy struggles with erratic government management and international sanctions imposed due to the country's disputed nuclear programme, the prices of food and fuel have jumped in the past 18 months.

The surge in the price has been caused mainly by the exorbitant cost of importing chicken feed with Iran's weakened currency, which on the black market is more than 40 per cent lower against the US dollar than it was at the start of this year.

Besides, the Guardian linked to a video has emerged of what purports to be a group of people in the city of Nishapur, in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, protesting at the soaring price of poultry.

In response to the controversy, dubbed "chicken crisis" by Iranian media, the government has started the scheme of distributing discounted chicken, prompting long queues in many cities across the country.

As western economic sanctions on Iran have started to take their toll, prices of fruit and sugar, among other staples, have soared – in some cases showing threefold and fourfold increases. The price of meat has gone up to such an extent that many now eat it only on special occasions.

The price of chicken, an essential ingredient of Iranian food, has doubled since last year, triggering anger among Iranians at this time of the year when they are supposed to celebrate the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Guardian said.