Despite the Iranian regime’s claims to improve the living conditions of the Iranian people this year, poverty is still on the increase every day. According to the state-run daily Aftab-e Yazd, “93 percent of Iranian households are dependent on subsidies.”
It should be noted that the subsidy given by the government to each person is about $2, which does not even cover a simple meal. The situation is so disastrous that many of the regime’s experts have warned the government about the consequences of not fulfilling the people’s expectations, which could ultimately lead to another uprising.
In an article entitled, “From social tantrum to increasing protests,” the state-run Jahan-Sanat daily warned regime officials, writing, “The current practice leads to social tantrums on the one hand and increasing social protests on the other.”
The state-run Etemad daily echoed this concern in an article entitled, “Current situation, slightly worse.” it wrote, “A simple look at inflation, which is above 40 percent, unemployment which is above 9 percent, misery index which has reached 49 percent, the need for one million housing per year and drought and the threat of natural disasters and the massive volume of social anomalies convince even the most optimistic people that the current situation is worrying.”
In recent remarks, Alireza Monadi, one of the regime’s MPs, expressed his concerns, stating, “Poverty is rampant on the outskirts of Tabriz so that today some people buy oil with a spoon and lease bread.”
The regime’s media mocked regime officials, with the Aftab-e Yazd daily writing on April 9, “Officials do not know what poverty is,”.
The same day, the Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote, “When you read the news and reports of some media outlets, they show the situation so safe and secure and the state of the country as pleasant and convenient as if people live in another country or even another planet and the rulers and their supporters live elsewhere.”
It added these officials talk as if “The price of a kilo of tomatoes has not reached 300,000 rials, and the price of meat and rice have not soared, and they are not wiped away from the people’s tables. Here, where people live, prices are so high that the general concern of people is to provide for their family, and medicine is one of the most important necessities of life.”
The state-run daily Hamdeli discussed the rampant poverty spreading across the county. “Only a few people are now unaware of the strange increase in prices and even the formation of long queues in some cities of the country to purchase the simplest necessities of life, such as tomatoes. The fact is that in recent days the prices of many basic commodities have risen sharply,” it wrote.
It further explained the figures of these dramatic price hikes, stating, “Tomatoes, which were 70,000 rials per kilogram when Raisi came to power, have now reached 400,000 rials. In some cities, it is reported that the price of just one tomato has reached 40,000 rials. The price of milk powder, which was previously 387,000 rials, has now increased by 44 percent to 690,000 rials. In the last eight months, the price of the Pride automobile has increased by 800 million rials. The same is true of rice and meat. Red meat has reached 200,000 rials and each kilo of rice has reached 100,000 rials.”
As the Iranian people fall further into the spiral of extreme poverty, Raisi’s government continues to claim that the economic situation in Iran has improved, and oil revenues have increased. Nevertheless, this is having no effect on improving the livelihood of the people.
This is because the increased oil revenues will not be used at all to improve the country’s economy and the livelihood of its people. Instead, the revenues are being spent on the regime’s malign activities and nuclear ambitions.
According to Mansour Owji, the regime’s Minister of Oil, the state-TV announced that oil revenues have increased three to four-fold, claiming, “Last year, our country sold $1,27 billion in gas, but this year this figure has increased to $4,6 billion, and all this amount has been received.”
If this claim is right, none of this added revenue has been spent on the improvement of the people’s livelihood as Raisi had promised. Perhaps this is because according to the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, revenues should not be spent on the welfare and comfort of the people but on strengthening the regime’s foundations. Of course, Khamenei does not say what he means by foundations. He may pretend that this is about economic foundations, but it is apparent he is talking about preserving the regime.
Source » presstv