During a short TV show on November 10, political-economist Ata Bahrami speaks about the dire economic situation in Iran. The video was published on the state-run Tahririeh.ir website presents an example of the country’s critical conditions, particularly the government’s failure to manage the poultry price and public anger in this respect.
In his comments, he questions the government’s insistence on wasting national resources in ballistic missile and drone projects, the government’s mismanagement in various aspects, public distrust of the officials, and systematic corruption.
Without further clarification, this short video indicates the Islamic Republic’s critical situation, which has yielded over the past 42 years.
Indeed, the ayatollahs’ settlement to address the country’s dilemmas has placed the entire tyrannical state in Iran in an awkward position. In contrast, they have grasped any change or reform would render their ultimate collapse.
“Should we believe the country’s chicken management or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) missile and drone technology?” Bahrami began, mocking authorities’ claims about military achievements.
“In the name of God. Our country has become a unity of opposites. On the one hand, we have technologies that a handful of countries possess. We have drones that fly over 1000km and strike targets precisely. Furthermore, we have several missiles that are on the world’s highest technical level,” he bragged about Tehran’s missile and drone power.
“More importantly, all these achievements are indigenous; their progression path is open and developing. On the other side, we are witnessing odd issues in the country. For four years, it has become a chicken country,” Bahrami underscored the poultry crisis in Iran. “See what is going on in a $1.2-billion market.”
“In the past two years, $20 billion has been spent on managing a $1.2-billion market—according to official estimates in 2020. All the while, the situation is that we see different prices every day, and some say there is no chicken leg or chests,” he briefly explained about turmoil in the poultry market and people’s dilemmas.
“You see, this story destroys the national capital, disturbs the country’s reputation, and challenges the government. How is it possible to get these together? Regrettably, our country lacks a central nervous system in management. Incompetence has become the cause of the crisis in the country and is challenging the country’s structure,” he continued.
“Indeed, two different movements manage this issue, and there is no managerial unity, meaning the same movement that produces drones does not control the market in our country. I mean intellectually, not a military entity controls the chicken market, which is senseless at all.”
“These are separate issues. A movement does [missile- and drone-making] projects, which is honorable, extraordinary, and we didn’t have such successes in recent centuries. We were always behind others due to weapons since the Safavid era. Due to weapon shortages, we failed many battles and lost many areas of our country.”
“Currently, we have advanced weapons; they are indigenous, and we have proud and faithful forces that use them. This is very special and unique. Unfortunately, the people do not separate these issues.”
“Maybe we should not expect ordinary people to know these issues, and they practically mix them, concluding missile and drone technology developments are false too. It is not possible a country, which possesses 7000km-range drones, cannot manage the chicken market. This contradiction has caused something strange,” Bahrami challenged authorities’ claims.
“They have created such circumstances through policymaking. This policy created such challenges, and the new government constantly falls because it has yet to realize this crisis,” he tried to ease criticism against the Ebrahim Raisi government by blaming his ‘reformist’ predecessor Hassan Rouhani.
“Currently, we witness long discussions over subsidized dollars—which are provided for officials at 42,000 rials. 42,000-rial dollars is practically the root of this crisis with simple policymaking and nice expressions. They do not say we intend to destroy the country; they say we allocate preferred currency for essential goods.”
“Several people say they are doing their duties well, which decreases the prices. However, they are disturbing the market. For 40 years, they distributed rants via preferred currencies. We had 25 various currencies, sinking the country into chaos,” Bahrami added.
“Unfortunately, the new government cannot understand that keeping the 42,000-rial currency is a loss even for one day. They regrettably keep the 42,000-rial currency, make new decisions every day, and present new bills. The country would not face such dilemmas if it had a central nervous in the managing system.”
“Those managers or the main circle of the management that decide about extending the missiles’ range or improving military forces. They should be familiar with the economic logic and prevent from turning chicken into a symbol of mismanagement.”
“They should not have built a ‘managing base’ for chicken, which is a sign of weakness for the country. I do not know how some officials think. There are many countries across the globe. Which one of them has had a chicken crisis for four years?”
“If you had decided to drill the earth and come out from the other side, it would not take four years. For over four years, they have been discussing chicken, seeking different ends via the same policy. It’s impossible,” Bahrami highlighted the extended mismanagement to the entire ruling system and officials’ failure to find genuine solutions.
“With preferred currency, you will get the same result in the future, and this is an obvious issue. If you do a job for ten years, you have it, and you would be unemployed for ten years if you do nothing. This is obvious.”
“If you build a house, it will be built; otherwise, it would not be built. If we think that there is a formula that spontaneously builds houses, well, such an idea does not exist. This is too odd why the country’s officials have yet to understand this and still discuss what they should deal with this devastating issue?”
“The chicken is a symbol of mismanagement logic, which has been presented here as we see. This logic has engulfed housing, education, healthcare apparatus, automaking, and home appliances fields.
“A misconception resorts to various examples. Since citizens do not see the decision-making process and decision-makers are unclear, [the misconception] accuses military forces of false claims and questions them, reasoning, “They destroy national resources and will bring multiple-dimension consequences, which eventually hurts all the people of Iran,” ended Bahrami warning about society’s volcanic situation, which would harm the entire ruling system and its internal factions.
