Iran: Officials Promote Starving Citizens Under a ‘Great Economic Plan’
Over the past four decades, the Iranian regime has been infamous for making false statements. As a result, citizens today no longer even believe the date of state-run papers. Iranian officials continue to spread incorrect data and have launched a misinformation campaign against protests, leaving thousands of citizens in an uproar.
The people of Iran are forced to contend with not only dealing with the regime’s financial mismanagement and failures but also their state-backed propaganda and misguiding statements. However, their perseverance in continuing and extending their protests across the country proves that the mullahs have failed to deceive society. With no other way to quell the unrest, the regime’s officials have resorted to increasing security measures and launching bloody crackdowns on defenseless protesters.
After Coronavirus, Iran’s Regime Kills People Through Starvation
Multiple protests have recently erupted in various cities across Iran, following the 100 to 400 percent increase in the prices of bread and other staple goods.
Having previously experienced a price increase of gasoline in November 2019, which sparked a nationwide uprising, the Iranian regime’s officials, fearing a popular backlash, are blaming this increase on international events and fictitious factors.
On May 9, Iran regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei defended the regime president’s economic policies and said, “Today, the work that the government is doing in the field of economy is important and needs the help of everyone, that is, all the institutions, the various branches, the people, the groups must all help the government, God willing, to achieve these results. Patience is also necessary.”
Read More: A Part of Khamenei’s Economic Empire in Iran
Contrary to Khamenei’s claims, in a speech in the regime’s parliament, Behzad Rahimi referred to the poverty and hunger of the Iranian people, saying, “After eliminating meat, rice, fruit, pasta, nuts, and fancy bread, how can we respond to the increase in pasta by several hundred percent? Before they shrunk the people’s purchasing power, do not make any compliment, and officially announce that people should clean up their tables and eat dry bread while standing up.”
The truth is that the Iranian regime is running a killing machine, starting with the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, then the killing of 1,500 people in November 2019, and finally with the help of the expansion of the coronavirus. Now it seems that this trend is continuing, with high prices of everyday goods being unaffordable for most people, the regime is practically forcing starvation on society.
Raisi desperately tried to defend the performance of the government, saying, “The issue of people’s lives during the coronavirus was a serious concern. 700 Iranian families were grieving every day.”
He has forgotten that over the past two years, the Iranian government never announced such a statistic, and he neglected to mention that they refuse to announce the real number of the people slaughtered during the November 2019 protests, fearing the furious reaction of the Iranian people.
However, inadvertently, he confirmed the statistics that had previously been announced by the Iranian Resistance, which was more than a half-million people.
On August 24, quoting Dr. Holakouee, a professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, the regime’s state-run daily Shargh wrote, “The death toll should be two and a half to three times the official number. But I say you can increase the death toll up to seven times.”
Raisi ridiculously claimed that around 300,000 rials [~$1] would be available in living aid to the people, but did not state when or how this would be achieved and implemented nationwide.
He said: “At the beginning of the year, we want to have a price change for some basic goods. It is currently planned that such support will be given for two months, then it will be turned into an electronic coupon. It will be a living aid for a month or two until the technical infrastructure for the electronic coupon is fully prepared.”
Barely a day after Raisi’s remarks, the regime’s minister of agriculture stated, “Because the necessary infrastructure is not available for the allocation of the coupon, cash deposits will be made.”
The state-run daily Tejarat News were quick to quote one of the regime’s economists in their publication, who warned that, “New cash subsidies cannot be withdrawn.”
Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, a member of the regime’s parliament, warned the regime about the people’s fury on his Twitter account and said, “Releasing the price of flour and calculating it at the world rate in dollars; It is a big mistake. If people’s expenses are to be at world prices, their income must be at the world level and in dollars too, not the worthless rials. Let’s not test people’s patience. The threshold of people’s tolerance has reached the lowest possible level for years.”
Immediately after the price of flour was increased by five to ten times, the regime promised the Iranian people that with more cash subsidies, it would prevent the transfer of the cost of increasing the price of bread to them. According to the regime’s Minister of Economy, around 77 million people in Iran are entitled to receive a ‘living subsidy’. The supposed amount of the subsidy for about 30 percent of those people is 400,000 rials [~$1.33], while for a further 60 percent, the subsidy will be 300,000 rials.
Discussing the ridiculousness of providing subsidies to 77 million people, the regime’s Telegram channel Chand Sanieh wrote that a number of households will not be entitled to receive any subsidy. They said these included, “Families who have made three foreign trips in the last four years, families who have a car over 300 million rials [~$1,000] or a public car over 400 million rials [~$1,333] , those whose income is over four million rials and a family of five whose income is over eight million rials per month.”
As a result of this subsidy, workers’ wages will be not increased. In addition to that, teachers and other employees, except government employees and nurses, will not be eligible to receive any subsidy. Therefore, the regime’s promise to provide living subsidies for 77 million people is a lie.
Fearing the people’s reaction, the regime’s interior minister has said, “People receive subsidies for the increase in the price of these four basic commodities,” while the minister of agriculture has claimed that the increase in the price of some products would be offset by the payment of subsidies.
Requirements for a Simple Life in Iran; the Unattainable Dream
It is no exaggeration to say that Iran’s economy is in a major freefall. All economic indicators are suggesting that the economic realities in Iran are deteriorating fast, and with the continuing trend of skyrocketing inflation, the prices of basic goods such as bread, meat, and rice are rising daily.
Discussing the effects of the economic crises on society, the state-run media continue to about the dismissals and strikes of workers who have not been paid their salaries for months, many of whom work in government-run factories.
With housing prices rising by about 50 percent in recent months in some areas, even owning a house in Tehran has become practically impossible for most people.
Since 2018, the value of Iran’s currency against the US dollar has fallen by more than 70 percent. The official inflation rate is reported to be about 40 percent, when in fact the true rate is much higher. As a result, more than half of Iran’s population of 82 million lives below the poverty line. Unofficial estimates also suggest that the unemployment rate across the country is much higher than the official rate of 11 percent.
Compared to the past year, the prices of milk, yogurt, and eggs have increased by more than 80 percent. According to the State Statistics Agency, the prices of vegetables and meat have also risen by more than 70 percent and even staple foods, such as bread and rice, have had their prices increased by more than 50 percent.
The cause of the vicious inflation rates is the government printing more banknotes to account for the shortages in the local currency, but without backing up its already mounting debts. As a result, many people have been left extremely impoverished. Even government figures show that last year, the number of citizens living below the official poverty line, who were earning less than $46 a month, increased by more than 40 percent.
In an editorial titled ‘Serious Danger!’, Masih Mohajeri, the editor of the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, wrote, “Bread did not become more expensive during the (Iran-Iraq) war. At that time, I heard from the Prime Minister that he had heard from Khomeini that the government wants to increase the price of bread by one rial and he (Khomeini) immediately objected.”
On April 15, the state-run ISNA news agency reported that the regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi was unhappy with the rise in prices of basic goods and had ordered regulators to investigate the ‘hidden causes’. Stating that the price is unreasonable and unjustifiable, Raisi tried to put blame on unknown sources and said, “It is unacceptable that a certain company or factory in the private sector can suddenly increase the price of its goods.”
These are the words of a president who admits his complete inability to control prices, even though he has repeatedly promised to fight inflation since taking office last year.
This comes at a time when food, housing, fuel, and basic commodity prices have risen to unprecedented levels in recent months. As always, the mullahs blame the economic and social problems of the people on imaginary and unknown factors, rather than accept and take responsibility for their own actions.
Raisi has repeatedly blamed the previous government of Hassan Rouhani, those who tried to destabilize his government, and so-called smugglers and promised to improve the situation in the future. Now he must answer the question, how long does it take to realize that the country cannot be run on the basis of‘ speech therapy’? This is a term coined by the state media to describe Raisi’s penchant to give speeches filled with false hope and hollow promises.
Even someone loyal to the regime, like Mohajeri, said, “Do not try to deceive the people or call the critics of the current situation, of which you are the founder, counter-revolutionary, and dependent on the United States and Zionism. The truth is that the people are not buying anymore such ridiculous excuses.”
Immediately after these comments were made, rival media outlet, the Quds Online blamed the Jomhuri Eslami, writing, “If honesty and courage are the criteria for the author of this analysis, he should first apologize to the public opinion and the system for presenting toxic analyzes that have affected the economy and the people of the country, not now that the government has achieved great success in curbing hereditary challenges.”
Looking at the current political climate, it appears that the power struggle between the various factions of this corrupt regime has reached new levels that have never been seen or felt before.
It is also worth mentioning that Raisi was the only presidential candidate that Khamenei wanted to come into power and on various occasions, he has approved and praised him and his government, even though this administration’s failings over this past year have been catastrophic.
As a result, one of the regime’s most influential newspapers is calling for Khamenei’s resignation. This should be considered a serious alarm for the Supreme Leader and a step forward for freedom and democracy for the Iranian people.
Sale of Iran’s Historical Items; Is There Anything Left To Sell?
Some of the members of the Iranian regime’s parliament have submitted a plan on the ‘optimal use of antiquities and treasures,’ which is suspected to be the base for auctioning and looting Iran’s historical artifacts.
This plan has already caused many concerns among the archaeological community and the supporters of cultural heritage. This community believes that the approval of such a plan will give legal legitimacy to the excavations and illegal smuggling of historical objects by the regime’s parliament.
Background of the plan:
Back in 2010, Hamid Baghaei, at the time the head of the regime’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, presented a plan with the same name to the Iranian parliament, but at that time this plan was not approved, and eventually, it was removed from the agenda of the parliament due to the objections. Baghaei was later reported to have been planning to set up a market for buying and selling historical objects in Qeshm and Kish Islands.
Twelve years later, this plan has once again been presented to parliament, this time by the regime’s MPs. This turn of events is indeed surprising as the major duty of the parliament is to prioritize the protection of the national heritage, antiques, and treasures.
As regards Iran’s cultural heritage, the regime has set up inefficient laws to deal with smugglers of historical objects and antiques, which is a major problem as this practice is becoming extremely commonplace, even in cyberspace.
When this latest plan was introduced to the government, the regime’s MPs mentioned that this plan was being actioned because historical objects and antiques are being sold on the black market, and therefore, they must prevent this illegal activity.
As for the benefits of this plan, the regime has stated that the sale of these objects will provide the country with foreign currency. In a more precise sense, the regime is intending to find an alternative way to pay for its malign financial activities.
It goes without saying that in the wake of the country’s dire economic situation, and the inadequacy of the regime to improve the situation leaving the economy in a state of complete bankruptcy, such plans can only signify the regime’s intentions for blatant looting and legalizing it, while at the same time usurping the national assets of the Iranian people. The regime’s officials and leaders have a long history in this regard.
In a letter to the regime’s parliament speaker Mohamad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s archeologists asked him, “Which country do you know, with a historical background like Iran, auctions its national and cultural assets for cash inflow?”
In their letter, they stated, “It has been a long time that the rein of protecting the achievements and cultural heritage of our beloved Iran is out of the hands of those in charge. The number of damaged and looted archeological sites is out of number, and the only solution is to change the law, but not in favor of the profiteer.”
The archeologists went on to state, “Only a glance of any archaeological graduate is enough to clarify that the creators of the project are not only unaware of the axioms and alphabets of archeology, but also they did not gain any consultation of any official archaeological institutions in the country; The presence of the shameless and misleading word ‘treasure’ in the title of the plan makes everything crystal clear.”
Following the objections of the archaeologists, regime MP Hossein Jalali explained that there is negligence in the plan that provides the ground for the smugglers and gives the profiteers free rein. He stated, “To this end, we realized that the plan needed to be modified.”
According to the MPs, the benefits of the plan are as follows:
- Iran will become a regional hub for the trade of antiquities, providing the country with foreign currency.
- It will create a new source of revenue for the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage to help them purchase and preserve antiquities.
- It will provide abundant job creations for graduates of fields related to history, gemology, and archeology.
- It will preserve the treasures of civilization and ancient heritage from destruction and unprofessional excavations.
- It will also preserve the treasures of civilization and ancient heritage by selling them at a bargain price to brokers and smugglers.
Iran: Bread Protests Are on Way, Stronger Than Gas Protests
Observers in Iran believe that nationwide protests and uprisings are underway following the Iranian regime’s decision to increase the price of flour and remove subsidized bread from the shelves. The regime’s President Ebrahim Raisi has also breached his promises about ‘eliminating absolute poverty’, ‘constructing one million homes’, and ‘supporting the underprivileged’, even before marking his government’s first anniversary.
Fazel Meybodi, a low-ranking mullah at Qom Howzeh [an Islamic Seminary], challenged the regime’s president in regard to his insufficiency and failure, asking, “Mr. Raisi; didn’t Prophet Mohammad say, ‘Damn be upon who accepts a task without knowledge?”
Meybodi also questioned the authority of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who extraordinarily purged Raisi’s rivals during the 2020 Presidential election to appoint his protégé, warning “People’s ‘riot’ is more dangerous than a revolution.”
On November 15, 2019, Raisi’s so-called ‘reformist’ predecessor Hassan Rouhani suddenly increased the price of gas by 200 percent, prompting hundreds of thousands of citizens to protest across the country. Two days later, Khamenei declared his support for the gas price hikes and hampered the Parliament [Majlis] bill to decrease the prices.
Khamenei referred to protesters as ‘rioters and hooligans,’ and ordered the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to, “Do whatever it takes to end [protests].” The IRGC quelled the nationwide demonstrations with helicopters, armored vehicles, heavy machineguns, snipers, and live ammunition, leaving more than 1,500 dead and many more wounded. Now ‘hardline’ and IRGC-backed Raisi have targeted people’s staple food.
A Glance at Bread Price in Iran
The authorities have resorted to increasing flour and bread prices to compensate for their stellar budget deficits, at a time that the country is suffering from an economic crisis due to the regime’s mismanagement and wasting national wealth on terrorism and nuclear ambitions. On April 26, the main state-run TV channel acknowledged that the price of flour would increase from 25,000 rials [$0.09] per kilogram to 120,000 to 169,000 rials [$0.42-0.60]. The official IRNA news agency unveiled the regime’s critical conditions eight days later, writing in their May 4 publication, “The crisis is [too dangerous] as the only remaining solution is to remove subsidies, meaning a stellar increase in the bread price.” Following the price hike of flour, the price of bread also soared, while the price of baguettes soared 13-fold. State media soon sounded alarm bells about rampant costs, with the Eslahat News website reporting on May 3, “Sandwich prices have reached 300,000 to 500,000 rials [$1.07-1.78]. It is no longer possible to purchase falafel; its bread costs 100,000 rials [$0.35] alone.” Adding to the price hikes, the regime is yet to adjust the minimum wages to compete with the skyrocketing inflation in the country. The semiofficial ILNA news agency reported on May 7, “In less than two months, high prices have significantly emptied working families’ product baskets. The minimum wages were raised by 57 percent this year; however, the average increase in foodstuff prices was more than 200 percent, meaning a 150-percent decrease in ‘workers’ real wages.’” At the same time, the Economy Ministry announced that it would begin rationing bread. The people will be required to pay $0.35 for a loaf of bread. As the workers’ minimum wage is $100 per month, this means that every working family of an average of 3.3 people has to pay $106 monthly in order to receive three loaves of bread per day, which is simply unaffordable considering other expenses. According to the Iranian government, Raisi is reportedly putting a cap on the price hikes. Cabinet spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi was quoted in an article on the Jamaran website on May 6, saying, “The President will not allow the bread to become more expensive in such circumstances.” However, even people loyal to the theocratic regime mocked Raisi and his failures again on social media, with many stating that “Raisi’s commanding economy no longer works.” “The expensive bread is equivalent to cheap lives,” stated the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) on May 5. “The regime has extended its claws to people’s food baskets. This process began with gasoline price hikes—in November 2019—and continued with increasing the house, pharmaceutical drugs, and foodstuffs prices. Today, it has reached the lone food that remained in people’s tablecloths.” In a message to Raisi by a group of Basij students on May 5, warned him that “the multiple-fold increase in the flour price may lead to social unrest, particularly when anti-revolutionary media have laid in ambush to drag the country to chaos.”Iran: Tax Pressure on the People and Exemption for the ‘Super Rich’
In a critical situation where most of the Iranian regime’s officials and media outlets are warning its leaders to take control over the inflation and astronomical prices of most of the basic goods, which are adding to the people’s grievances, Raisi’s administration is compensating its budget deficit with VAT.
Something that has shown this critical situation is the increase in the price of macaroni. The state-run daily Entekhab wrote about this increase, which is the result of VAT, stating, “The maximum consumer price of simple noodles with a value of 500 grams was set at 17,000 tomans, 700 grams at 24,000 tomans, and 1,000 grams at 34,000 tomans. The previous price of 500 g, 700 g and 1000 g of pasta was 6300, 8600 and 12,500 tomans, respectively.”
This is just one example. It is not only pasta prices that have skyrocketed but also the prices of other food items and people’s needs following the increase in ‘VAT’. According to one of the regime’s economic experts, ‘increasing consumption tax’ is one of the main causes of inflation.
Of course, it is not only through VAT that commodity prices have risen exponentially, leaving the poor and oppressed living under pressure, but also through the increase in taxes in the 2022 budget, many people are being systematically extorted.
The state-run daily, Khabar Online said, “Employees pay 10 percent of the country’s tax and profitable state-owned companies nothing.”
While the vulnerable members of society are struggling with the regime’s latest decisions, wealthy institutions such as the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), the Mostazafan Foundation, the Housing Foundation, the Relief Committee, etc. do not pay any taxes formally, or they avoid them under various coverings such as tax evasion and arrears, each of which is denoted by astronomical figures.
The state-run daily Kayhan, the mouthpiece of the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, wrote about tax arrears in their publication, stating, “224 trillion tomans of tax arrears is close to the budget of one year of the country.”
This pressure on the people through direct and indirect taxes is in a situation where state-owned companies, and companies affiliated with the regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s office, are either exempt from paying taxes or avoiding paying them altogether.
The tax burden on the people is so great that fears of a social explosion have alarmed even the pro-government media. The state-run Iran daily wrote, “A 73 percent increase in taxes, in addition to putting pressure on poor people, will increase the recession, and livelihood pressures on people will increase this year.”
Even heads of the regime’s Basij are warning the regime and expressing their fears. In Raisi’s recent meeting with some of them in the local university, they accused the administration of having “sold the future government to the rich and super-rich” who do not pay taxes, and “delayed the reform of the tax system in favor of the super riches.”
Of course, they did not name these people as doing so would mean that they would have had to name Khamenei and the institutions affiliated with him.
Another one of the regime’s super-rich institutions is the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), which controls a large part of the country’s economy. The Khatam al-Anbiya construction base, affiliated with the IRGC and which oversees the country’s largest projects, is one of the largest super-rich institutions in this system.
Iran’s Regime and Its Expertise in Reversing the Truth
In order to get an insight into the Iranian regime’s real behavior and culture, you first need to analyze the speeches and comments of its officials. In a landmark trial in Sweden, which has been ongoing over the last nine months, the former Iranian prison official, Hamid Noury was accused of war crimes for his involvement in the purge of political prisoners, mainly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), during the summer of 1988.
This is the first time that a regime official has been put on trial for this massacre, and the prosecutors have requested a life sentence for Noury, who has been on trial in Stockholm district court since 2021.
According to the testimonies of the prosecutors, survivors, and family members of the victims, Noury was the assistant to the deputy prosecutor of Gohardasht prison, near Tehran, at the time of the event. One of his main duties during the massacre was guiding the victims to the execution chamber.
The life sentence request by the prosecutors has raised much happiness among the victims’ families and the survivors, with many of them expressing hope that all the regime’s officials involved in the massacre will face the same verdict.
Something that hasn’t been discussed much is the rude comments that have been made by Hamid Noury himself, his family, and regime officials during his trial.
In an interview with Press TV, an English TV channel operated by the regime, Noury’s daughter said, “If I want to talk about human rights violations, there are so many that I do not know where to start. Human rights have not been respected at all. My father was arrested in the worst of circumstances when he came here at the invitation of a family.”
She added: “They humiliated him. When he was arrested, he was under a lot of psychological pressure. It was a very difficult time for my father.”
In other interviews, his family members have claimed that the Swedish prison authorities refused to give him access to consult ophthalmology specialists.
The silliness of these claims becomes transparent when a simple search about ‘Sweden’s prison or rehabilitation system’ is made on the internet. The truth is that Sweden has one of the most unique systems in the world, and this country is famous for its human rights values and principles.
In a questionable comment made by Kazem Gharibabadi, the Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters and Deputy Chief of Staff for International Affairs of the Judiciary of the regime, he claimed that until Noury’s family was informed about his detention, his arrest in Sweden could be considered a case of enforced disappearance.
Gharibabadi said, “Violent treatment during detention and disrespect for human dignity, violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention, and keeping the Iranian embassy and his family unaware of his whereabouts to exert psychological pressure and prevent family visits are just some of the inhumane acts against a person who has been arrested by fabricated and false allegations.”
He added, “The lack of access to a lawyer and the denial of his right to defend himself in court is another proof that this court is a show that was set up with politically biased goals and did not observe the basic principles of judicial justice.”
Now the question remains, how many of these claims are being observed by the regime in its prisons, which according to the former inmates and survivors of the regime’s brutalities, are considered hell on earth?
The footprint of such claims can be overserved in the speeches of the regime’s officials. This is how the regime reverses the truth and devalues the sense of the words. As an example, in the recent speeches of Ahmad Alamolhoda, one of the regime’s main clerics, discussing the reason for the extreme poverty in the country, he said, “The second issue is the issue of not observing hijab and immorality, which is the worst denial and should not be ignored. This laziness and insolence have their effects in the matter of livelihood.”
This statement was so absurd that even some of the regime’s officials were forced to object to such a claim, due to their fear of the people’s reaction. Regime cleric Mohammad Taqi Fazel Meybodi, responded saying, “If not observing hijab is the cause of high prices, the world must be starving. Think a little.”
Cleric Rahmatollah Bigdeli mocked him too, and on behalf of Alamalhoda he tweeted, “The reason for the high cost in the Rouhani’s government was he self, but the unbridled high prices in the time of my dear son-in-law have two causes: brokerage, none obeying the hijab and immorality of women.”
Capital Outflow Intensified in Iran
One of the current major crises in Iran’s economy is the capital outflow, which is implemented by the regime’s officials who are depositing huge amounts of wealth into foreign banks and private accounts. One way in which they transfer the currency they have received from the central bank abroad is under the pretext of importing basic goods. However, in practice, they do not import any goods in return, which has raised many skepticisms even among the regime’s experts.
On May 1, the state-run Etemad Online website quoted one of the regime’s economic experts in their publication, writing, “$20 billion was taken out of the country in 2018 in the name of importing goods, many of which did not return.”
According to unofficial statistics, more than $10 billion leaves the country annually. On May 1, the Jahan-e-Sanat newspaper cited the Central Bank in an article, stating that the outflow of capital from the country in 9 months in 2021 was “more than $10 billion”, which is double the amount compared to the same 9 months of 2020.
They added, “The outflow of capital in the third quarter of 2021 was accompanied by a growth of 96 percent compared to the same period in 2020. The increase of the outflow of capital from the country according to the government’s statistics, can be a warning signal for the situation of investment in the country.”
These are just the official statistics that are ringing the alarm bells. Unofficial statistics are painting a picture of a much worse situation.
In regards to the capital outflow over the past four years, the state-run daily Jahan-e Sanat wrote, “In fact, in a situation where the outflow of capital from the country has increased during the last four years and in 2020 for the second time the depreciation rate exceeded the investment rate, the economic situation for producers was such that in most seasons with increasing production costs and they faced a decline in consumer purchasing power.”
One example that has exposed the severity of this critical situation is the bankruptcy of small businesses. According to Jabbar Kouchaki Najad, a member of the regime’s parliament, “Many small production centers are in crisis and some workers have been laid off.”
It is clear that under this amount of pressure, it is impossible to form a real private sector, and what is left are so-called private businesses that are owned by the regime’s officials, which are operating to support the regime’s looting and thefts.
Discussing the regime’s pressure on the private sector, the Jahan-e-Sanat daily wrote in their April 29 publication, “The government has blamed the private sector and employers for the entire costs. Now we must see how it can continue this policy.”
The Incurable Housing Crisis in Iran
After Ebrahim Raisi took office last year as the Iranian regime’s President, he promised to build one million houses in Iran annually to keep up with demand. He previously claimed, during a visit to Qazvin, that, “It is necessary to build one million housing annually and this is not just a slogan.”
However, after nine months it has become clear that like all the regime’s promises, this was fake too. This comes at a time when the prices of rental properties are increasing, compared to previous years.
In an article on May 1, the state-run daily Jahan-e Sanat wrote, “In April 2022, the average purchase and sale price of one square meter of residential unit infrastructure in Tehran was more than 34 million Tomans, which is an increase of 16.9% compared to the same month last year. The rental housing rent index in Tehran and all urban areas in April 2022 shows a growth of 45.6 and 50.1 percent, respectively, compared to the same month last year.”
In a post on the Iranian parliament’s official website ICANA, which quoted MP Gholamreza Shariati, it is stated that most of the tenants and applicants for housing are the poorest in society, and they are required to pay between 40 and 50 million rials for the initial payment to get housing through the government, an amount which most of these people are unable to pay.
This scandalous failure of Raisi even raised the voices of the regime’s officials. On April 27, the state-run daily Bultan News wrote, “Not only has the government not taken action to address this concern and not properly exercise its role, responsibilities, and duties, but it has been and is a bystander as in the past. So, because of the increasing prices and inflation in this field, renting of rooms and storage has taken the place of housing. According to the developments in the housing market, the inflation of rent in Tehran, according to the latest report of the Central Bank, has reached 46% in March 2022 and 50% in the whole country.”
A spokesperson for the regime’s civil commission later stated, “Unfortunately, the field reports do not reflect good news about the housing rents, and while people are experiencing several percent increases in rents, the government has not put in place a plan to control the market this year.”
This means that the living conditions of the homeless population have worsened compared to previous years, and Raisi’s promises have shown themselves to be nothing but vain statements.
The government has been so reluctant to deliver on its promise that a plan has recently been proposed to outsource the construction of part of the housing to the so-called private sector, and the contract has been signed by Rostam Ghasemi, the director of a government agency.
The involvement of the private sector in the construction of housing means that the government and its private institutions, especially institutions such as the regime’s Housing Foundation and the Khatam al-Anbiya base of the Revolutionary Guards, will be involved.
These looting institutions have been involved in the bulk of housing construction for the past 16 years, and the current situation of skyrocketing housing and rental prices has been the result of their corrupt actions.
There is currently no private sector company, independent of the government, that can build mass housing. This is because institutions affiliated with Khamenei’s office and the government, such as banks, have stolen the housing market from the non-governmental private sector.
This regime lacks the desire and will to solve the housing problem but is content with destroying the homes of poor people in some parts of the country, like the recent incidents of demolition of suburban homes in Zabul and Zahedan on April 15, where municipal and police officers demolished people’s homes.
The following day, on April 16, municipal agents, in cooperation with security and military forces, also attacked the Shirabad area of Zahedan, destroying several residential houses, without any warning.
In video clips posted on social media of the demolitions, a female citizen is seen shouting and crying, saying that she has spent millions of rials to buy and build on the land where her property stood, which was destroyed by the Road and Urban Development Administration in cooperation with the military.
Iran: Producing Nuclear Bombs Under the Cover of a Religious Ban
Many years ago, the Iranian regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa, claiming that the development of any kind of nuclear weapon is considered haram [forbidden in the Muslim faith]. This fatwa is completely in contradiction with the regime’s behavior over the past years, especially where its nuclear activities are concerned.
This contradiction has been mocked by many people, with a number of them comparing it to the regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini’s claims in Paris about the offering all kinds of freedom to the Iranian people, from his special villa in Neauphle-le-Château.
Khomeini said, “The first thing for human beings is freedom of expression…we want a government that does not kill someone because they which the death of someone.”
In regard to giving freedom to the women, he added, “Women are free in the Islamic government. Their rights are like the rights of men.”
Once Khomeini had acquired power in Iran, he began to repress and torture the women, even for a visible strand of hair. His Hezbollah forces started to hunt the women with the slogan, ‘either headscarf or punishment’, as they knew very well that the women would be the first barrier to establishing his medieval and religious fascism.
His priority was not to fulfill the promise of housing for the homeless but to kill freedom in the political atmosphere of the time. He regretted that he had not erected gallows in the squares from the very first day and that he had not broken the pens and shut the mouths of the intellectuals and the revolutionaries. This was the only time where Khomeini criticized himself.
The development of an atomic bomb is a serious priority for the regime for the simple reason that the regime considers it as their ‘guarantor of survival.’ They are convinced that they can survive the inevitable demise of the nuclear bomb.
Ali Motahari’s naive confession about the regime’s decision to create a bomb from the outset of the regime’s nuclear activities is only one of the many examples of secret conversations in the inner circle of power, that reveal the regime’s true evil intentions. He confessed something at the wrong time and wrong place, that should have been kept secret forever.
He stated, “From the very beginning, when we entered nuclear activity, our goal was to build a bomb and strengthen the deterrent forces, but we could not maintain the secrecy of this issue, and the secret reports were revealed by the MEK [People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran].”
This reality was also expressed as threats and warnings by some of the regime’s officials. On April 10, Mahmoud Reza Agha Miri, President of the regime’s University of Nuclear Engineering, said, “That means you have the power to increase your enrichment to 99% in a short time. You have the power to control nuclear fission if necessary. That means you can charge a warhead and give it to him to do with it whatever he wants. You have the power to do this. We call this an inalienable right.”
Prior to these statements, Mahmoud Alavi had already revealed the ‘secrets of the regime’ in other literature. He said, “In his fatwas, the Supreme Leader stated that the production of nuclear weapons is illegal and that the Islamic Republic will not go for it, but if a cat is kept in a corner; its behavior may be different from that of a free cat. If Iran is pushed in that direction, then it is not Iran’s fault.”
With Ali Motahari’s confession, once again it becomes clear that:
- Khamenei and his regime have never given up the evil desire to develop a nuclear bomb.
- This vicious policy, which is endangering world peace and security, is contained under a ridiculous fatwa.
- Appeasement with this regime, under any guise, will only encourage the regime to gain the bomb.
- If it were not for the revelations by the MEK, which took many risks and many accusations against it, Khamenei would have achieved the bomb now.
