You can check localbitcoins to see if anyone selling bitcoin to Paypal in Iran. Also you can get the idea of currently bitcoin prices in IRAN through this screenshot.
1 US Dollar = 42105 IRR
This is just one face of what's happening in Iran. P2P is the way to go, but not on a facilitated space just like what LocalBitcoins is offering that's for sure and that's why I don't believe much of the volume nor the pricing being posted in LBC-Iran. Anyone can post how much would they want their bitcoin to be sold but that doesn't mean that someone will be willing to pay for that price point knowing that there are other places offering far more better deals than LBC.
Seem real to me. Its about $24000 base on this data. I wouldn't try going there to sell my coins on Iran localbitcoin though, its very risky since we don't have privacy with LBC. I think cointelegraph had also tried looking for a real information before posting the article.
Perhaps you haven't tried to trade with LBC yet? Anyone can post a sell bid on there with obnoxious amounts way beyond the current trading value of bitcoin but it will still get applied, but that doesn't mean that someone will be buying those awful prices even if they're in the midst of a global crisis.
It doesn't affect the price on exchanges though but would it be possible to sell BTC by meet up in Iran?
We don't know unless we actually hear from someone residing in Iran currently. All of these information surfacing from the country are, IMO, opinions and mere aggregates as Iran had been fairly disconnected from the Internet since November last year, but are now being reconnected slowly but surely so there's that. Perhaps their P2P trades are really meetups after all, but if you're from outside Iran, why would you even think of doing that in the first place?