Faced with a bankrupt economy due to international sanctions over its illicit WMD and terrorist activities, Iran’s regime faces a stark choice: Either it can stop wasting the nation’s precious wealth on its regional aggressions or it can raise funds by increasing taxes and reducing services for an already impoverished nation. The regime has chosen the latter.
The mullahs’ regional warmongering is coming at the cost of starvation and destitution for millions of Iranian citizens. But this is not a sustainable policy. Sooner or later, the nationwide protests over government corruption and overdue wages are bound to turn into an uprising for regime change.
Dr.Zahedi-#MEK Rep-#IranConferenceNYC:
There is another face of the country. Today,the clerical regime is facing a society in its explosive state. With MEK’s active role as a vanguard force, a serious threat to the regime’s survival.#FreeIran #IranRegimeChange pic.twitter.com/BOVaIat7Si— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 24, 2019
On October 7, the regime’s parliament held a session behind closed doors to discuss further decrease of subsidiaries on goods, particularly on fuel.
On October 8, the government announced a decrease of fuel rations from 30 liters to 20 liters for all citizens. Iranian society and Iran’s economy are greatly dependent on fuel in order to function.
Fearing that sudden and complete removal of the state subsidiaries would result in an uprising, the regime is reducing them in stages. The regime has previously experienced huge protests over corruption and economic mismanagement.
Although state subsidiaries are often meager sums, their reduction affects the lives of ordinary Iranians who count every single rial.
According to the state-run Titr-e-Bartar news agency, the poverty line in Iran for a family of four persons is 80 million rials (around $500 US).
Deputy Parliament Speaker Abdolreza Mesri on October 6 said: “Today, inflation is at 40%, and the poor have nothing to eat. Not a single rial has been added to the 1.6 million rial income of a family.”
“Their income today is the same as last year: 1.6 million rials for a family of one and 5 million rials for a family of five, or 34,400 rials per day.”
Mesri pointed out that the current cost of small-size bottled water is 15,000 rials. “So with the income, we’re giving people, they can drink one bottle in the morning, one at lunchtime and half a bottle at night.”
“How can they cover housing, clothing, transportation, food, education, medical expenses and sanitation with 34,400 rials?”
“And even that is being deprived of them. Where is all the money from the budget being spent?”
The Iranian regime is aware that further pressure on the population could trigger a social uprising but since it is unwilling to stop wasting funds on regional wars and enriching the mullahs and Revolutionary Guards, it is forced to go down this path.
Regime funds terrorism instead of resolving social-economic crises
The U.S. State Department in a report, “OUTLAW REGIME: A CHRONICLE OF IRAN’S DESTRUCTIVE ACTIVITIES,” revealed that between 2012 and 2018 the regime ruling Iran has “spent over $16 billion proppings up the Assad regime and supporting its other partners and proxies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.”
“Lebanese Hizballah is Iran’s most powerful terrorist partner. In the past several years, it has demonstrated its far-reaching terrorist and military capabilities. Iran’s annual financial backing to Lebanese Hizballah – a staggering $700 million per year – accounts for the overwhelming majority of the group’s annual budget. Iran also provides up to $100 million annually in combined support to Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, PIJ, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command,” the report added.
Poverty and Misery, the Achievements of #Iran’s Regime https://t.co/WaKKUmTFZF#FreeIran #IranRegimeChange
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 30, 2019
While the regime uses the Iranian nation’s wealth to pursue its terrorist agenda, the majority of Iranian people are living under the poverty line, and as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) recently reported, the people are forced to sell their organs to cover their living expenses.
Any incentive packages to the Iranian regime by European governments would only enable it to fund further terrorist attacks and enlarge its ballistic missile arsenal.
Iran’s people, who are the primary victims of the regime, support international sanctions against their oppressors. They know that all money the regime receives from abroad is used to prolong its illegitimate rule. Since the U.S. reinstated sanctions on the regime last year, there has not been a single popular protest in Iran denouncing international sanctions. Instead, there have been thousands of protests, large and small, against the regime’s corruption, economic mismanagement and suppression – many of which have ended with calls for regime change.
Source » ncr-iran