A multi-layered crisis is paralyzing Iran’s economy and society, as bloated institutions expand while citizens face mass unemployment and rising poverty.
Iran is not merely experiencing an economic downturn—it is confronting what experts describe as a “layered and interdependent crisis.” In a striking interview with Shargh newspaper, regime-affiliated economist Hossein Raghfar warned that the Iranian regime is now in its most fragile state in decades. “We are not facing a simple crisis,” he said. “This is a crisis nested within other crises—each one reinforcing and amplifying the others.”
This dangerous synergy between political deadlock, economic collapse, social alienation, and cultural stagnation is pushing the country to the edge. The erosion of public hope is not only weakening Iran’s internal stability but also undermining its diplomatic leverage abroad. In such a state of national exhaustion, even the most basic reforms are difficult to implement, let alone ambitious policy shifts.
The Human Cost of Economic Collapse
While official narratives continue to emphasize “resistance” and “resilience,” the lived reality for millions of Iranians tells a different story. In just the past two months, over 5 million motorbike couriers reportedly lost their jobs. Alongside them, 8 million gig economy drivers, who relied on digital platforms for income, have seen their earnings disappear or shrink dramatically.
These figures point to a staggering contraction in Iran’s informal labor market—one of the last remaining economic lifelines for a society battered by sanctions, inflation, and deindustrialization. Yet despite this unprecedented wave of unemployment, government policies have remained largely indifferent, offering neither direct aid nor wage increases to the most vulnerable.
The Irony of a Growing Government
Amidst this economic free fall, Iran regime’s presidential institution has undergone a massive expansion—both in personnel and spending. In 2019, the budget for the presidency stood at 292 billion tomans. By 2025, it is projected to reach a staggering 8,504 billion tomans, reflecting a 2,800% increase in just six years.
The number of employees in the presidential administration has also exploded. While the U.S. White House operates with approximately 400 mostly expert staff, estimates suggest Iran’s presidential office now employs between 4,000 to 5,000 people. This surge is not just wasteful—it contradicts long-standing promises to “shrink government” and improve efficiency.
New and expensive departments, such as the Strategic Transformation Secretariat, have been added, along with the construction of new office buildings and the hiring of more administrative staff. Ironically, as the people grow poorer, the government becomes richer—at least in terms of its own apparatus.
Bureaucracy Without Merit
This state expansion is not accompanied by professionalism or accountability. As Ham-Mihan daily reports, Iran’s bureaucracy has become “fat, slow, and dysfunctional”—particularly since the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hiring practices increasingly favor ideological loyalty and tribal affiliation over competence or expertise.
Many administrative processes are redundant or deliberately prolonged, and the bloated system often requires more people to do less work. In one telling example, a routine task requiring five qualified employees is now assigned to ten underqualified ones—and still takes longer and yields worse results.
Worse still, corruption has become entrenched. In such an environment, inefficiency, nepotism, and financial mismanagement thrive, feeding the very crises that are destroying the economy.
Symbolic Gestures, Systemic Failures
Perhaps nothing illustrates the hollowness of the regime’s approach better than a recent widely circulated image: five government officials and a cleric traveling to a remote village in Sistan and Baluchestan to deliver an air conditioner to a needy family. The unit appeared second-hand, and the cost of transporting officials—likely involving staff wages, transport, and security—almost certainly exceeded the value of the gift itself.
This public relations stunt reflects a broader pattern of performative charity in place of policy—a regime more interested in symbolic displays than in real solutions. As the Persian proverb goes, “They bring seven sets of bowls and ladles, but there’s no dinner.”
Rhetoric vs. Reality
Regime president Masoud Pezeshkian recently declared that the government must “know the condition of the people” and that “no citizen should be left unheard.” Yet the contradiction between such statements and actual policy is stark. If leaders are truly aware of the people’s suffering, why have wages not been raised? Why is direct financial support still so limited, especially for informal workers, retirees, and the unemployed?
These are not rhetorical questions. They are existential ones—for millions of Iranians whose survival is at stake. The government’s inaction in the face of economic collapse, coupled with its lavish spending on itself, points to a deeper truth: Iran’s crisis is not only economic—it is systemic.
