As the social, economic, and health crises continue to wreak havoc in Iran, some of the state-run media outlets have been assessing the current situation in recent days. The Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up as health experts predict that a sixth wave is on the horizon, while the dire economic situation is driving more and more Iranian people below the poverty line.
The Covid-19 death toll in Iran has now surpassed 458,700, whilst the engineered statistics of the Iranian regime are still claiming that the figure is only 125,000.
Majid Shirani, the president of the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari University of Medical Sciences told the Arman daily that there is currently a worrying increase in the number of patients that have been hospitalized due to the virus.
Iran is about to suffer from the sixth wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. The regime could have prevented this situation if it had vaccinated the population using WHO-approved vaccines.
Regime officials are trying to hide the severity of the pandemic, despite the low rates of vaccinations and the high mortality rate indicating otherwise.
In a quote from health expert Mohammad-Reza Mahboubfar, the state-run Setare Sobh daily wrote that the regime’s Minister of Health has announced that crowd events, such as Friday prayers are due to reopen next week, with universities and schools set to reopen soon after, even though many students are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Also discussed in recent publications in Iran’s state-run newspapers is the continuing decline of Iran’s economic situation. The Etemad daily reported on Monday that according to official figures, around 26.5 million Iranian people are currently living in absolute poverty. As a result, society has been turned into a powder keg, as Iranian citizens have had enough of the regime’s false promises and mismanagement of the crises.
There have been ongoing protests by Iranians from all walks of life in the last few months to the poor economic situation. In recent days, dozens of Iranian cities witnessed major protests and strikes by teachers who could hardly make ends meet due to their low income and high inflation.
The Mostaghel daily stated that the recent protests are in relation to the issue of people’s livelihoods. The teachers’ protest last month shone the light on the plight of teachers across the country. Many are living below the poverty line, which currently sits at 12 million Tomans, while their average incomes are barely above 6 million Tomans.
In their publication, they also discussed how the unemployment levels in Iran have had a huge impact on society. According to the latest employment statistics from Iran’s Statistics Center, around 2,496,000 people who tried to find employment during the summer were unsuccessful, further adding to the rise in poverty-stricken families, who are already suffering amidst the other crises in Iran.
The Mostaghel daily wrote, “The shrinking capacity of Iran’s economy, the rising unemployment and inflation rate, and people’s shrinking table, are warnings to officials. The resilience of the youth and the frustrated classes is to a certain extent. From that point on, they no longer see any reason to remain silent and react.”
The state-run daily Hamdeli showed the regime’s fear quoting Masoud Nili an economic adviser of the regime’s former president Hassan Rouhani and wrote:
“We need to find a way to prevent flooding. A flood that can destroy us all. I don’t see any time as dangerous as it is today. So, we’re in a certain situation in terms of inflation, and God forbid, if this trend falls in a direction where inflationary expectations and the realities of the economy both lead to the increase of inflation, we’re going to be on a very dangerous path that I deliberately don’t want to point out to the common literature.” (Hamdeli, October 19, 2021)
Source » irannewsupdate