Price of Consumer Goods Continue to Spike in Iran
Ali-Ehsan Zafari, chairman of the Dairy Products Union, announced on Tuesday, September 17, a 25% increase in the price of dairy products due to a 20% rise in the price of raw milk.
However, Zafari warned that the higher prices for dairy products would not benefit producers but would instead lead to reduced consumption, which in turn would lower production and profitability.
Zafari added that if these price increases continue, public dairy consumption will decline.
He pointed out that the solution to preventing this price increase is “government subsidies,” but noted that “the related decree has not yet been officially issued by the government.”
Referring to the products that will see the biggest price hikes, Zafari added that “products like cheese will experience the largest price increases.”
He emphasized that “the government must first find a way to stop the rising prices of dairy products,” and added that under these circumstances, subsidies to dairy producers are the only solution.
In recent days and weeks, the price of bread has increased by up to 66% in some provinces of Iran. In this regard, the rise in bread prices in Tehran has led to increased protests.
In this context, labor activist Faramarz Tofighi told the state-run ILNA news agency on September 9: “The occasional price hikes of key factors affecting household living expenses, whether denied or confirmed by officials, have now become routine,” and added, “We usually see these price surges in the second half of each year.”
He mentioned that “in the food sector, we have three strategic goods: oil, sugar, and bread,” and added, “They handle bread, this strategic commodity, so carelessly as if they don’t understand the impact of its rising price on people’s tables.”
Faramarz Tofighi added: “Don’t they realize that other items in people’s food basket have become extremely expensive, forcing the lower classes to rely on bread? The rise in bread prices is another blow to their livelihood.”
Meanwhile, in line with what Iranian regime president Masoud Pezeshkian, along with his economic advisors and some of his ministers, have described as “economic surgery” or giving the people a “bitter medicine,” there is a possibility of an increase in energy prices, especially gasoline.
Some economic experts also predict that water and electricity prices are set to rise, although the Ministry of Energy has not yet officially confirmed this. However, indirect increases have already been applied through utility bills.
Protests By Oil and Gas Workers and Retired Telecommunication Employees in Iran
Economic protests in Iran continued yesterday with weekly gatherings of retired employees from the Telecommunication Company of Iran in several cities, marches, and protests by oil and gas industry workers in the provinces of Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Hormozgan, as well as a rally of retirees from various organizations in Tehran.
According to reports on social media on Monday, September 16, a number of protesting retirees from the Telecommunication Company held simultaneous gatherings in several cities, including Tabriz, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Sanandaj, Marivan, and Bijar.
These retirees are protesting against poor living conditions, wages below the poverty line, ineffective supplementary insurance, the removal of grocery benefits from their job perks, and the failure of major shareholders to implement the 2010 regulations after the privatization of the state-owned Telecommunication Company of Iran.
The protesting retirees in Khuzestan province also chanted slogans such as “From Khuzestan to Tehran, shame on the oppressors” and “Frozen livelihoods don’t help us.”
Retired protesters in Kurdistan province also joined the demonstrations.
The series of protests by Telecommunication Company retirees, which are held simultaneously across various regions of Iran every Monday, were also held this week in other cities, including Isfahan, Tabriz, and Marivan.
Protests by Retired Telecommunication Employees in Tabriz
The weekly protests by Telecommunication Company retirees have been ongoing for months. Key reasons for these protests include the failure to update welfare allowances in 2022 and 2023 and the non-payment of previous years’ dues at current rates.Protests by Retired Telecommunication Employees in Isfahan and Kurdistan
The executive regulations of Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, passed in 2010, pertain to the tasks that can be outsourced and how services can be procured from the private sector. According to these regulations, until the obstacles to privatization are removed, the provision of services to the workforce remains the responsibility of the government. However, 14 years after the regulation’s approval and despite continuous and repeated protests by these retirees, it appears that neither have the privatization barriers been resolved, nor has the government fulfilled its responsibilities toward the protesters.Protests by Oil and Gas Industry Workers
In another event, workers at petrochemical terminals and storage facilities in Bandar Mahshahr, Khuzestan province, held a protest. According to the Iranian Retirees Council, the reasons for this protest include the “failure to implement employee status conversion in line with neighboring companies, non-payment of petro-cards, deductions from productivity bonuses, failure to implement the job classification plan for contract employees, and repeated issues with timely payment of social insurance.” Additionally, a number of workers from the Fajr Jam Gas Refinery in Bushehr and Pars Oil and Gas Company in Assaluyeh held protests and marches on Monday to express their dissatisfaction with unfulfilled contracts and deductions from their payments. At the protest, workers chanted slogans such as “Employment contracts must be implemented, illegitimate deductions must be canceled.” Protests by oil and gas industry workers have also taken place in previous days. The expansion of labor protests among various groups, including retirees, workers from different industries, teachers, defrauded investors, nurses, and healthcare workers, reflects the growing economic challenges in Iran and the disregard of Iranian regime officials.The Head of Iran’s Pharmacists’ Association: Over 60% of Domestically Produced Medicines Are “Low-Quality”
Bahman Sabour, the head of the Pharmacists’ Association, says that the Iranian government purchases and sets prices for over 60% of the medicines produced by domestic pharmaceutical companies, and this is the main reason for the low quality of these drugs.
On Saturday, September 14, Sabour told Rokna news agency that “the majority of medicines are produced under fixed pricing.” For products without price regulation, “the producer sets the price based on the materials used and the production cycle costs.”
Sabour further added that patients compare domestically produced medicines to a dish missing its key ingredient, saying, “Domestic medicines meet the minimum standards, while foreign medicines are above the normal standard.”
Meanwhile, drug production in Iran is facing a crisis due to the lack of liquidity to purchase raw materials for manufacturing plants.
Following increased criticism of the critical situation regarding medicine, on August 9, Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, Executive Vice President and acting head of the Presidential Institution, announced that Massoud Pezeshkian had ordered the head of the Central Bank to resolve the liquidity issue for the supply of raw materials for pharmaceutical factories and the import of medicine.
Earlier in May, the regime’s president, Massoud Pezeshkian, who at the time was still a member of the Health and Medical Commission of the regime’s Majlids (Parliament), revealed that the government owed 6 trillion rials (nearly $1 billion) to pharmaceutical companies.
A month after Pezeshkian’s remarks, Mohammad Ali Bandpay, a member of the Health and Medical Commission’s presidium, warned that medicine had become a “crisis,” announcing that the number of scarce medicines had surpassed 200 types.
Poverty On the Rise Among Iran’s Employed Population
Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s security institutions, reviewed the economic events of the past two decades and reported that since 2018, the pace of poverty has accelerated, with an increasing number of employed individuals falling into poverty.
Tasnim emphasized that the economic conditions are such that the workforce, which serves as the engine of the country’s productivity, is abandoning labor jobs and turning to other occupations, many of which are informal or precarious jobs. Labor activists have repeatedly sounded the alarm, warning that this marks the beginning of a growing wave of poverty across the country.
Tasnim, citing Zahra Kaviani, a member of the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament, wrote: “Since 2006, the poverty rate has been gradually rising, reaching around 20% by 2011.”
According to Kaviani, the estimated poverty line for a family of three in Tehran in 2024 is around 200 million rials (approximately $334). Tasnim compared this figure with the minimum wage for workers in 2024, which is 111 million and 70 thousand rials (about $186), noting that efforts to reduce the poverty rate have been unsuccessful.
In this context, Ahmad Meidari, the Minister of Labor, also stated that those living in absolute poverty are employed, but their income is insufficient to meet their needs.
In a research seminar on poverty, Zahra Kaviani also noted, “The likelihood of escaping poverty has diminished, meaning we have witnessed a decline in poverty mobility. In the past four years, about 50% of the poor have remained below the poverty line for three consecutive years.”
Kaviani explained that a family living below the poverty line may reduce its expenses, such as children’s expenses, and try to compensate the following year. However, a family that remains below the poverty line for several consecutive years may decide that their child should drop out of school or become a child laborer, which ultimately leads to intergenerational poverty.
Farshad Esmaeili, a lawyer and social security expert, also reported the feminization of poverty in society, stating that more than 50% of female heads of households are in the first and second income deciles, with 75% supporting one to three people, and 70% of them have no social activity.
On Sunday, September 15, Shargh newspaper wrote, “The continuation of income poverty not only causes harm on its own and has social consequences, but it also spills over into multidimensional poverty, turning children who drop out of school into the future poor.”
Shargh emphasized in its report that “this deepens the cycle of poverty and leads to intergenerational poverty; thus, it is expected that if the situation continues, we will see an increase in the number of poor people in the future, along with a worsening of their living conditions.”
Amirhossein Moradi And Ali Younesi on Mahsa’s Anniversary: A Spark Can Ignite The “Uprising Until Khamenei’s Overthrow”
Coinciding with the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in the custody of the Morality Police and the start of the 2022 nationwide protests in Iran, Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, two imprisoned students, emphasized that “from universities and schools to the streets,” the ultimate goal of the “bloody pledge” is the “overthrow of Khamenei.”
In this message, which was shared on X on Sunday, September 15, the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death under the Morality Police’s custody, Moradi and Younesi described the 2022 nationwide protests as “the brave uprising of the Iranian people.” They stated, “On the eve of the new academic year, which is intertwined with bloody days but brilliant battles, to our fellow students from universities to the streets, to all those who believe they must stay and reclaim, to those who turned the streets into universities of resistance, to those who could not return to their second homes (schools and universities), to those who this year are shouldering the responsibility in the trenches of freedom, to all our comrades behind prison bars who were never separated from us—we stand beside you still.”
These two imprisoned students, declaring that “our generation is the generation of uprisings,” added that this generation “fought wholeheartedly in Mahsa’s uprising,” and despite arrests and deaths, “it did not and will not surrender.”
Moradi and Younesi stressed that the entry of the generation of students from the 2022 nationwide protests into universities, and their experience of that “uprising,” has turned this into a “nightmare for the regime as the new school year begins” and from now on, the regime must “expect a response from schools and universities for every crime.”
In the statement released by these two imprisoned students on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death and the start of the 2022 nationwide protests, they recalled how Masoud Pezeshkian, the regime’s new president, “deceptively claimed that students have the right to protest.” They emphasized, “But he didn’t say what happens to students after they protest! Yes, we do have this right, whether he hypocritically admits it or not.”
These two political prisoners, reaffirming their commitment to republicanism, declared that “the people’s right to sovereignty and democracy” is “the most fundamental right,” and added that they “will achieve it alongside the people at any cost.”
Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi further stated, “The powder keg of anger and hatred, built up by executions, massacres, and oppression, only needs a spark to explode—a spark that can be ignited in a school or university and trigger a nationwide uprising that will not end until Khamenei is overthrown.”
Amirhossein Moradi is a physics student and a winner of the Astronomy Olympiad, and Ali Younesi is a computer science student who won the gold medal in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in 2017.
Mahsa (Jina) Amini died on September 15, 2022, a few days after being arrested by the Morality Police, at Kasra Hospital in Tehran. Her death sparked a widespread wave of protests across Iran that continued for months in the streets, universities, and schools.
During the suppression of the 2022 nationwide protests by government forces, at least 750 civilians were killed, and thousands were injured and arrested.
Red Meat Consumption In Iran Has Fallen Below 600,000 Tons Per Year
Ahmad Shad, Secretary of the Association of Raw Animal Product Importers, states that the annual consumption of red meat in Iran has dropped to less than 600,000 tons per year.
On Sunday, September 15, in an interview with ILNA news agency, Shad called the current statistics on meat consumption in Iran inaccurate and said: “According to unofficial statistics, the country’s meat consumption is between 850,000 and 1 million tons annually, but our estimates suggest a lower figure.”
According to Shad, there are no reliable statistics on meat consumption in the country, but estimates based on imports and slaughtered livestock indicate that the annual consumption of red meat, including both light and heavy livestock, has fallen below 600,000 tons.
He added, “The people of Iran consumed more meat in past years, but since 2021, consumption has been declining.”
Meanwhile, according to estimates from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iranians consumed 335,000 tons of lamb and 382,000 tons of beef last year.
Thus, based on these estimates, Iran’s red meat consumption last year was less than 720,000 tons.
Domestic statistics on meat consumption per capita in Iran vary. In May 2023, Masoud Rasouli, Secretary of the Meat and Protein Packaging Industry Association, reported a decrease in per capita meat consumption to four kilograms per year.
Some reports and calculations published in domestic media have even placed this figure at around three kilograms.
According to estimates from the Iranian Statistics Center, per capita meat consumption in Iran was around 13 kilograms per year in 2011, which decreased to eight kilograms by 2019.
These combined data show that red meat consumption in Iran has significantly decreased over the past decade, with per capita consumption last year down about 35% compared to 2011.
The significant drop in red meat consumption in Iran has coincided with rising inflation, and meat prices have been leading food inflation in recent official reports.
Data released by the Statistics Center of Iran shows that in August 2024, the inflation rate for food and beverages reached 34.8%, with the highest inflation among food items related to the “red meat and poultry” group.
The annual inflation for this group was reported to be 58.3% by the Statistics Center.
Nutrition experts have warned in recent years about the health consequences of reduced protein consumption among Iranians.
A former official from the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare also warned last year, citing new statistics on “malnutrition” among the Iranian population, that a “humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding in the country.
Last year, the Research Center of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (Parliament) reported that in 2022, the calorie intake of half of the Iranian population was below the standard.
Family of Mahsa Amini Not Allowed to Leave Their Home on The Second Anniversary of Her Death
On Sunday, September 15, on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, which sparked nationwide protests in 2022, her family is not permitted to leave their home.
Close relatives of Mahsa Amini‘s family reported that “this morning, the Ministry of Intelligence contacted Amjad Amini, informing him that if he or his wife leaves the house, they will be arrested.”
Previously, the Amini family had planned to hold a memorial for the second anniversary of their daughter’s death, which occurred while in the custody of the morality police, at the Aychi cemetery on September 15.
Government agents informed the Amini family that “they do not have the right to leave their home.”
Reports indicate that “a significant number” of plainclothes officers are currently stationed outside the Amini family’s residence, and the family members are not allowed to leave.
It is said that government security forces are also present throughout the city of Saqqez, and “even garbage bins have been removed to prevent protesters from setting them on fire.”
A checkpoint has been set up in the Ghough area, which provides access to the Aychi cemetery, where Mahsa Amini was buried. Every person attempting to pass is interrogated, and some are not allowed to proceed.
In the days leading up to the second anniversary of the nationwide protests that began with Mahsa Amini’s death in the custody of the morality police in 2022 and lasted for months, reports have indicated that several people have been arrested in Kurdistan.
On Saturday, September 14, news also emerged that access to the Aychi cemetery has been restricted.
At the same time, on Saturday, various sources reported that security forces had released water from the “Cheragh Veys” dam into the Saqqez riverbed, just as they did last year, blocking some of the access routes to the Aychi cemetery and Mahsa Amini’s grave.
A large number of political and civil activists, as well as various parties, have issued calls for a general strike in the cities of Kurdistan province and other cities in Iran on Sunday, coinciding with the anniversary of Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s death in the custody of the morality police.
Images and videos shared on social media show that merchants and shopkeepers in Kurdish-majority cities went on strike on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
According to reports, today, Sunday, September 15, 2024, businesses in the cities of Sanandaj, Saqqez, Divandarreh, Mahabad, and Bukan are on strike.
These strikes have taken place despite threats and the increased security measures in Kurdish-majority cities in recent days.
Iranian Regime Vice President Reports a $17 Billion Deficit
Mohammad Reza Aref, the Vice President of Iran’s regime, referring to the dire economic conditions and budget deficit, announced a deficit of one quadrillion rials (about $17 billion) in the first six months of the Persian calendar year (from March 21 to September 21). He added that last year, “Our trade balance was negative by $17 billion.”
On Saturday, September 14, Aref, during a conference of university presidents, stated, “We are facing imbalances in various sectors, and this is a very serious issue.”
According to some experts and critics, Aref’s remarks align with the “economic reforms and surgery” that the regime has tasked its president Masoud Pezeshkian with implementing.
The one quadrillion rial ($17 billion) deficit and imbalance mentioned by Aref is a warning for people’s livelihoods. Analysts believe the government will respond by raising prices, reducing subsidized fuel quotas, and increasing the cost of other energy carriers to compensate for the shortfall.
In recent months, the regime has increased bread prices in various provinces, with hikes starting at 25% in most provinces and ultimately reaching 66% in Tehran.
Regarding gasoline, in recent months, Masoud Pezeshkian and his cabinet have repeatedly stressed the need for price reforms. Critics believe that Iranian media, regardless of political alignment, have been tasked with preparing the public sentiment for these changes.
An increase in water and electricity prices is another step that experts believe the government will take next. While the Ministry of Energy has remained silent on the matter, the head of Tavanir (the national electricity company) stated, “We will not increase electricity prices for now or this year.” However, indirect increases have been applied through consumption coefficient tables in household and industrial electricity bills.
High Prices in Iran Prevent 110,000 Kids from Attending First Grade
Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper reported on the issue of education in the new school year and the impact of inflation, stating that 110,000 first-graders were prevented from entering the education system due to the rising costs of school supplies and tuition.
In its September 14 issue, the newspaper wrote that comparing the prices of elementary school textbooks shows a roughly 50% increase compared to last year.
According to the newspaper, the price of stationery has increased by at least 20% compared to last year, and a middle-class working family must spend at least 30 million rials (approximately $50) to meet the minimum needs of students, excluding the cost of a backpack, shoes, and uniform. The minimum wage in Iran is approximately $180 per month.
Donya-e-Eqtesad noted that the expected number of first-grade enrollments is about 1.495 million, which is down by about 110,000 compared to last year. “The rise in education costs has prevented these children from enrolling,” it stated.
The newspaper also interviewed Mohsen Golestani, the head of the Union of Stationery and Engineering Supplies Sellers, who said: “Most of the raw materials for domestic production are imported. The exchange rate has affected prices, and wages have also risen, along with an increase in bank interest rates.”
Golestani also pointed to the current hot topic of power outages in industries, stating: “Another issue we faced in production was power outages. Most stationery production saw a drop in output during the summer. The decline in output due to power cuts, along with fixed costs and wages, has all contributed to the rise in the price of domestic stationery.”
According to this trade official: “People’s purchasing power has declined, and families, instead of buying all the necessary supplies at once, are managing their needs throughout the year.”
Previously, the Deputy Minister of Primary Education had announced on September 9 that for the 2023-2024 school year, about 216,243 children in primary school were out of school, of which only 31,518 had returned to education.
The statistics on children who are out of school in Iran are highly inconsistent. On June 25, the Deputy Chairman of the Education Committee in the Majlis (Parliament) announced that 911,000 children, including 400,000 primary school students, were out of school in Iran.
Mohammad Molavi, another member of the Education Committee, said in July that 279,000 children had dropped out of school due to “financial difficulties.”
Regardless of the statistical discrepancies, the significant point is the increasing trend of dropping out or not entering the education system in the first grade due to financial problems and poverty, a problem that continues to spread.
Official data also shows that 70% of school dropouts are from the lowest five income deciles.
Many Workers in Iran Have to Wait Six Months to Receive Their Wages
Many workers in Iran file complaints against their employers after being laid off to claim their dues. The process of addressing these complaints in the labor dispute resolution offices takes months, leaving some workers and their families without money for at least six months, causing them significant hardship.
The state-run ILNA news agency, in a report, stated: “Imagine a worker who hasn’t received their wages for three months, and after an entire season of being without money, has been laid off or, in the language of today’s capitalists, ‘downsized.’ This worker has no choice but to turn to the labor dispute resolution offices to claim their rights.”
The report highlights the lengthy process of addressing workers’ complaints at labor dispute offices: “When a worker enters the system and files a complaint, they don’t wait just days or weeks, but months for their case to be addressed.”
Representatives of the government and employers in the Supreme Labor Council agreed on March 19, 2024, to a 35% increase in the minimum wage for workers in 2024.
According to this agreement, the minimum wage for workers supporting a family of four was set at 121 million rials (approximately 202 USD).
Armin Khoshvakhti, a senior labor law expert, criticized the long delays in processing workers’ complaints, telling ILNA: “Sometimes a complaining worker has to wait up to six months! There have been cases where a worker hasn’t been paid for three months and then had to wait an additional six months for their complaint to be addressed.”
Ehsan Sohrabi, a labor activist, also criticized the long and unfair process of handling workers’ complaints, telling ILNA that some employers act unjustly and unfairly, refusing to pay workers’ wages and failing to take responsibility.
Sohrabi added that these employers always act in line with the economic interests of the Chamber of Commerce, leaving desperate workers wandering the halls of provincial labor offices, facing “the stress of proving their case, rejection of their complaint, or possibly employer lobbying.”
This civil rights activist stressed that in densely populated and labor-heavy provinces, workers often receive their rights so late that it no longer feels like a right, but more like a meager handout.
According to Sohrabi, some cases take more than six months to reach a verdict, and this method of handling workers’ complaints poses dangerous challenges for their families.
He called on the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare to order a stop to the “trickle-down referral of workers’ complaint cases.”
Majid Rahmati, head of the Wage Committee of the Coordination Council of Labor Councils in Tehran Province, told ILNA on March 10 that the cost of living for a family of four in Tehran, with 3,000 calories per day, was calculated at 328.5 million rials (approximately 548 USD) and for the rest of the country at 265.5 million rials (approximately 443 USD).
An analysis of the wages set by the Supreme Labor Council for 2024 and the cost of living announced by the head of the Wage Committee for a family of four in Tehran reveals a gap of 150 million rials (approximately 250 USD) between wages and living costs.
This, along with the non-payment of workers’ dues and delays in processing their complaints, indicates that the situation for workers in Iran has worsened compared to previous years, and their families are also facing numerous problems.
ILNA, in its conclusion, pointed out the high volume of economic and labor relations problems, writing that under such circumstances, there is little hope that a worker who hasn’t been paid for months and has been laid off by a profiteering employer will receive their rights in one, two, or even three months.
In recent years, workers across Iran have repeatedly held protests and strikes over their living conditions and unpaid monthly wages, but their demands have yet to be fulfilled.
