For young Iranians, cafes are a refuge -- a safe place to mingle and unwind in a country where social freedoms are restricted.“I like going to cafes because you see all kinds of people with different personalities, yet they're all socializing in the same place,” Ainaz, a 19-year-old woman who lives in the capital, Tehran, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.“I have my favorite spot, but I also enjoy trying cafes with different vibes. I feel freer in cafes than I do on the streets,” added Ainaz, who only gave her first name for security reasons.But Iran’s once-booming cafe culture, a fixture of urban social life particularly among young people, is being squeezed by a deepening economic crisis and renewed pressure from the authorities.Economic StrainCoffee and food prices have soared amid runaway inflation. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Iran’s overall inflation will reach nearly 69 percent this year, the highest since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.Years of international sanctions and government mismanagement have crippled the economy. Iran’s war with the United States and Israel since late February has pushed the country of 90 million people to the verge of economic collapse.Iran’s cafe scene has felt the impact, with owners grappling with rising costs and customers scaling back their spending.A woman in Tehran said the price of 250 grams of coffee is as much as 15,000,000 million rials ($8) -- double what it cost last year.“Just imagine how expensive coffee in a cafe has become,” the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told Radio Farda.