movement in localbitcoins is also a reaction of its citizens regardless of the economic burden of embargo sanctions faced by the government.
I find the volumes on localbitcoins not that telling, especially with how it doesnt show why the coins have been bought. I'm leaning towards speculative buying and selling rather than people buying Bitcoin as safe haven.
Another thing is that due to their fiat currency losing purchasing power constantly, the increasing volumes on localbitcoins are kinda deceiving because in USD the volumes haven't actually gone up, but have been trending down.