Iran Regime’s Security Concerns and Its Useless Police Force
Among the lies told by the Iranian regime’s President Ebrahim Raisi about an “economic growth up to five percent” in the coming Iranian year, which began on March 21, one of the most important points in his new year’s message was the admission about the regime’s concerns on its security being endangered by the people’s protests.
“The country’s security has the priority,” Raisi emphasized.
While the only supposed threat comes from the people and their resistance, Raisi’s insistence on protecting the country’s security only means more repression and an increase in executions.
Echoing the regime’s officials’ anxiety about the popular protests across Iran, Ghasem Rezaei, the deputy commander of the regime’s police force, spoke out, referring to Iranian youths as saboteurs, threatening the regime’s security, and warned that the regime has “more than 200,000 personnel assigned to security,” and that “more than 70,000 cars, motorcycles, boats, and helicopters are on standby in the streets, alleys, and borders.”
Threatening the youths, Rezaei added that the police is a “slashing sword for the malevolent, the norm-breakers and the security disruptors.”
However, in reality, none of the regime’s security measures and threats has had the outcome the regime expected. Over the past few years, we have seen many protests of varying sizes across the country, some of them were nationwide, and many have threatened the regime’s survival.
Therefore, such threats have only a propaganda purpose, and one of their goals, according to the regime’s media, is to seize the increasing number of weapons from the people, who are preparing themselves for a final showdown with the regime, especially following the November 2019 protests, which turned into a nationwide uprising that almost overthrew the regime.
While calling the youths and angry people thugs, Rezaei said that the police “will continue to collect the people’s illegal weapons so that people who own them feel insecure.”
The repetition of such useless threats by the regime highlights its weakness in confronting the people’s protests and shows that it is terrified of further acts of defiance, especially by the youths. As one of the regime’s senior clerics Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghaddam explained, “Protests and strikes by a segment of the society prompts other sectors to also start their protest movement.”
This is a situation in which the Iranian people have improved and changed their tactics to confront the regime, having learned from their past experiences. As a result, Iran is facing a widening gap between the people and the ruling, something that the regime fears the most.
On November 4, 2021, the state-run Ebtekar daily touched on this issue, writing, “Iran’s society acts independent of the governing political structure and has cut all its ties with it. As such, there is a disconnect between the population and the political structure. This rupture will inevitably lead to general instability.”
“That is why all of us riding on this ship should be concerned about the current situation, marked by indifference, despair, and the collapse of society amid rupture and instability. Otherwise, there will be no hope in the political body and the politicians,” the daily added.
On March 9, regime expert Amanollah Qaraei Moghaddam warned, “There is no doubt that if this situation continues, if not this year, the army of the hungry will explode in protest next year.”
Iran Regime’s Secret Oil Contracts With Devastating Impact on the Next Generation
Recently, the Iranian regime’s ministry of oil signed an oil agreement with an unknown party, which has caused great controversy. Reports stated the regime signed a 20-year contract on the South Pars oil field on March 15, 2022, with rumors suggesting that the contract is with a company named Avangard.
The contract was signed by the regime in secrecy, and no details of the contract were made public at the time. Even many of the regime’s experts were surprised about the reports on the deal and expressed their frustration and surprise.
On March 16, the state-run website Tahririeh Studies Institute wrote, “Yesterday, the contract of the South Pars oil layer with the IPC contract model was signed between the National Oil Company and an anonymous company, no details of which were provided. The story of this controversial contract is that an anonymous company called ‘Avangard’ has undertaken the development of this field under a 20-year contract. The deal was signed in the final days of the Iranian year when no one was paying attention.”
The official website of the regime’s Ministry of Oil refrained from publishing any details about the party to the contract and the financial size of the contract. This decision was very strange for the mafia-led regime, with its officials saying that this is the first time that something like this has happened in the oil industry.
The important thing about this contract, according to the regime’s media, is that over the past year many of petroleum and economic experts have warned about the devastating consequences of this contract for the country’s economy. Many of them warned that such a secret contract is auctioning the country’s wealth.
This becomes even more clear considering that the regime’s then-oil minister Bijan Zanganeh refused to agree with the contract, therefore the regime’s economic mafia asked Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr, the current head of the National Oil Company to sign the contract.
As some of the regime’s state-run media like the Tahririeh website said, “an internet search with the keyword Avangard simply shows that the company, which now owns the 20-year-old South Pars oil field, has no external presence.”
Therefore, it seems all the skepticism about auctioning off the people’s national wealth is true and well-founded. Another reason is that the regime has chosen to sign this contract close to the end of the nuclear talks. Many regime officials had suggested that they should wait until the result of the nuclear talks before signing such a huge contract with an international company.
All of the facts uncovered regarding these oil contracts show that the regime has auctioned around 900 million barrels of the country’s oil for at least the next 20 years.
The state-run website Rooz-e No revealed another strange fact on March 16. It quoted Saeed Sayos, one of the regime’s oil experts, who spoke about the Avangard company, as saying, “Avangard is a consulting firm for FPSU and has previously worked with Iran, but has not yet operated oil pipelines, but has participated in joint ventures and shipping (shipping and marine industries).”
In addition to the South Pars Oil Field, most of Iran’s oil fields are run with the help of foreign companies due to the regime’s other priorities, like its missile and nuclear projects, while investing most of the country’s resources in these fields.
According to official analysis, the volume of reserves in the South Pars oil field exceeds more than one billion barrels. Iran’s domestic companies do not have the capital, power, or even the technology to extract from this field. So, to date, Iran has had almost no extraction from the South Pars oil field.
This is likely to cause great economic damage to the next generations while fossil reserves will not be preserved for them. The reality is that common fields are like a common reservoir. If one country does not extract from it, the partnering country will extract all the reserves, even the other country’s share.
Many of the regime’s experts have been comparing the damages of this contract with the Farzad B oil contract between the regime and India. Like this latest contract, that agreement was signed in secrecy. This project gave India the right to exploit and extract natural gas from the Farzad B field for up to 30 years. In addition, India had the right to share the profits from the sale of the gas.
Although the details of the plan were not officially released, it appeared that India intended to take advantage of the regime’s sanctions, which are the result of the regime’s nuclear and missile projects, its appalling human rights dossier, and its meddling in the Middle East. the same thing seems to be happening in South Pars as well.
At that time, Bijan Zaganeh said, “The offer made by India does not bring any profit to Iran for 30 years and whatever is produced, India will take it as wages and operating expenses.”
Iran’s Regime Fabricates Statistics To Hide Its Economic Weaknesses
In its latest report on the change in the prices of food and non-food items, the Iranian regime’s Statistics Center has announced that the inflation rate reached 40.02 percent at the end of the 1400 Persian calendar year (March 2021 – March 2022), which the center claims had decreased by 1.2 percent when compared to February of this year.
The publication of these statistics that are far removed from the reality of the situation, which is appalling, especially while the lives of Iranian citizens continue to be destroyed by poverty, and their backs are broken under the burden of the extremely high prices which are not commensurate with their incomes.
The most important commodity group for the people is food and beverages, which in the recent report of the Statistics Center of Iran, has remained unchanged compared to last month. They point out that the inflation rate for the major food, beverage, and tobacco groups is reported to be 40 percent.
The Statistics Center collects a basket containing several foodstuffs and announces its average price changes compared to the previous month and year as the inflation rate. This is a deceptive method that is repeated constantly, while the food items most needed by the people include a wide range of items that are not counted in the Statistic Center’s basket.
Experts say most of the inflation that puts pressure on people comes from food groups such as rice, meat, oil, tomato paste, chicken, eggs, dairy, sugar, tea, and sugar. Although the regime allocates the preferred 42,000 rial currency to control the prices of some of these items, these goods reach the people at the free-market exchange rate and foreign exchange resources are practically wasted.
The regime’s Statistics Center, like many of its other institutions, is politically driven and fulfills the objectives set by the regime, which is to project a normal situation despite the precarious state of the Iranian economy. Almost all the regime’s institutions are obliged to convey the regime’s-specific narrative of the facts to the people.
According to independent economic experts, what the Statistics Center publishes as a report on price changes is designed to cover up the regime’s economic failures.
When the mullahs took power in Iran more than four decades ago, they claimed to be the champions of the oppressed and the deprived and pledged to spread justice. But they have brought Iranians a devastated economy, mismanagement, and endemic corruption.
Even the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was forced to admit as much, stating, “The result of all government and banking support and the prevention of foreign competition has practically led to higher prices. And in the field of justice, we acknowledge that we are left behind.”
While some pro-government pundits expect to see a revival of the Iranian economy if and when a new nuclear deal is signed with the West, the vast majority of Iranians are convinced that the windfalls from the new deal will have absolutely no effect in improving their livelihood.
The economic equations show that although the nuclear deal and the release of blocked foreign exchange resources will have a positive impact on the Iranian economy in the short term, the country is still in a vicious cycle of inflation due to the weak foundations of production and the weakness of its industry. In other words, because the industrial sector lacks sufficient production capacity, and at the same time banks are trying to print money, the ratio of liquidity to GDP is always above 20 percent.
This vicious cycle of creating unequal liquidity versus insufficient production is like a machine creating inflation that is increasing the army of the poor every year. Therefore, even if the Western countries and the regime make an agreement and the regime’s sanctions are lifted, no one can have real hopes in the reduction of inflation and economic pressures on households.
The economic situation of Iran in the new year is quite bleak. Persistent unemployment, unfulfilled public expectations, and, consequently, the spread of public discontent and protests. The issue of eliminating the preferred 42,000 rial currency will further increase the distance between the people and the regime, something about which the regime experts are warning constantly.
In the documents leaked by the cyber group Edalat Ali, the regime’s security officials warned of the consequences of eliminating the 42,000 rial currency and explicitly acknowledged that this strategic mistake would come with a cost to the regime. Most likely, the regime’s decision to eliminate currencies allocated to medicine and other basic goods is part of a process that will contribute to the regime’s demise.
Iran Begins New Year With Worsening Miseries for the People
The Persian year of 1400 has ended in a miserable situation for the Iranian people, who have suffered along with people from around the world from the coronavirus pandemic. The only difference is that the clerical regime has been deliberately supporting the spread of the virus by denying imports of foreign vaccines and delaying the lockdown to use the virus as a weapon to prevent the Iranian people’s ever-increasing protests. As a result, this has led to more than 500,000 people in Iran losing their lives.
commenting on the matter, the state-run Setareh-e Sobh daily wrote, “According to an official report, more than 50,000 Iranian children lost their parents due to the coronavirus in (the Iranian years) 1399 and 1400. The coronavirus is considered the worst and most tragic event of 1400 due to the material and spiritual damage it has caused to the people.”
In the year that just ended (March 20), the Iranian people endured a vicious crackdown, from arresting political dissidents to killing fuel and cargo porters, which have increased dramatically since Ebrahim Raisi took office last August. He set an execution record of about 300 people in just eight months, a record not unexpected considering his background of serving as a member of the death commissions during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Another aspect of this misery has to do with the state of the Iranian economy, which is even worse and has destabilized Iran’s society and caused many social calamities. Now, as Iran welcomes the Persian year of 1401, the New Year is inheriting all these worsening miseries.
In his New Year message, the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was forced to acknowledge the scale of the disaster that has befallen the country. “The most severe, important of these bitter moments in my opinion are such things as the problems that exist for the livelihood of the people, the issue of soaring prices, inflation, and the like. These are economic problems, a part of which I hope will be resolved this year,” he said.
He went on to admit the regime’s deadlock in solving these problems. While he heads the state-controlled mafia which devoured all the country’s wealth, he warned, “Not all of them can be resolved at once. They will be resolved little by little. If one is impatient and hasty and says that all the problems must be solved very quickly, this is not realistic.”
The Iranian state media also pointed to a bleak year ahead. In reference to the ever-rising levels of inflation, the Setareh-e Sobh daily wrote, “Unfortunately, the average inflation this year has been more than 40% compared to last year, which is bitter news for the people because this inflation means that people’s purchasing power has decreased by more than 40% compared to last year.”
Another crisis from which the people suffered greatly last year was the scarcity of water in the country, which not only damaged their daily life but destroyed the country’s agriculture and caused a lot of environmental damage.
Acknowledging the people’s protests over the water shortage and the regime’s crackdown on the protesters, the daily wrote, “Inflation, unemployment, air pollution, dust, etc. have been and are among the issues that not only have not diminished in intensity but have increased to the point that groups of people in the provinces of Khuzestan, Isfahan, Yazd, and Chaharmahal Bakhtiari came to the streets and protested. Unfortunately, in the process, some people were injured, and bitter memories of these events remain.”
During the water shortage protests in Isfahan, the regime’s security forces tried to crush the unrest by injuring the people with bird shots, firing small pellets directly into people’s faces. As a result, many people lost sight in one or both eyes.
To add to the misery endured by the Iranian people in 1400 was the skyrocketing housing prices. According to the regime’s official reports, the average price of each meter of residential infrastructure reached 325 million rials. Accordingly, the increase in housing prices in the last five years has been estimated at around 655 percent. The latest report of the regime’s Statistics Center on the average price of food shows that Iranian rice has become 95.3% more expensive than last year, which is unprecedented in the history of the country.
Several state-run media outlets have written about the dramatic increase in rising food prices such as meat, eggs, potatoes, and other items. At the end of 1400, it was concluded that Iranians will continue to grapple with high prices and inflation.
In a tweet mocking Raisi’s New Year message, Mohammad Mohajeri, an Iranian journalist said, “Dear Mr. Raisi, Happy New Year, I swear, much of what you said in the Nowruz message about the economy is fiction, and the reports they have given to you are not true. Fill the mouths of liars with dirt. If you do not know it is wrong and you say it shame on us and if you know that … shame on us again.”
Iran Regime’s Missiles, UAVs Threaten Global Peace and Stability
The Iranian regime’s missile program is becoming a major problem and a threat in the Middle East region. On March 13, the regime attacked a base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region with dozens of missiles, then justified it by claiming that the base was a “strategic center of conspiracy and wickedness” that belonged to Israel.
Despite the regime characterizing this act as defensive, that attack was a clear violation of the principles of international relations and the sovereignty of its neighboring country. It should be noted that such actions committed by the regime have been repeated many times over the past years and will no doubt happen again while they are still being empowered by the appeasement of Western countries and their feckless approach to the regime’s acts of aggression.
The West’s weak posture during the Vienna talks over the regime’s nuclear program explains the regime’s increasing aggression toward its neighboring countries.
Many observers viewed the missile barrage as an attempt by the regime to further divide Iraq’s political factions, which Tehran believes would empower its proxy groups who were routed during the parliamentary elections in 2021. The swift condemnation of the attack by the Iraqi Prime Minister and all other Iraqi political groups, except for the regime’s proxies, undermined the mullahs’ plan.
A cursory review of the Iranian state media and remarks by its officials makes it palpably clear that the unprovoked and illegal missile attack was meant to boost the morale of the regime’s demoralized forces, especially in view of setbacks it has received in the region, including the death of two senior Quds Force commanders in Syria.
Irrespective of the regime’s motives in launching this attack, Tehran’s missile and a drone program pose an increasing threat to regional and global peace and stability.
Ironically, such an aggressive posture is necessary for the regime to offset the irremediable crises it is facing at home, including a collapsing economy, aggravating factional infighting, and an increasingly restive population.
Under the circumstances, offering any concessions to the regime under the pretext of trying to keep the mullahs’ nuclear program in check is misguided and counterproductive because it would amount to throwing the regime a lifeline precisely at a time when it is at its most precarious and vulnerable state in the past 43 years.
Iran’s Regime Expects the Youths ‘Taking Revenge’
Iran’s youth under the mullahs’ rule are enduring very resentful and inhuman conditions. Many of them are forced to drop out because of poverty and the miserable economic situation of their families and join the million army of cheap laborers.
These youth are now becoming one of the major concerns of the regime. The experience of the November 2019 protests magnifies the regime’s fear so that now many of its experts speak and warn about new widespread protests led by the youths.
Social crises in Iran are becoming more critical day by day. This explains why the regime tries desperately to find a way out by gaining some concessions during the nuclear talks. But despite its expectations, even the nuclear talks have turned problematic for the regime.
The regime’s officials believe that an economic boom is the only solution that will enable it to get itself out of this dire situation.
Regarding the social problems and challenges, on March 13, 2022, the Arman-e Meli daily interviewed a regime expert named Aman-o Allah Qaraei Moghaddam. In his remarks, he acknowledged four decades of regime’s destruction; “The fact is that after the revolution the people expected from those who claimed to be their servants, to support them and share their sufferings. But this didn’t happen, and aristocracy continued, and the officials did keep their promises and went about their own business. As a result, a deep and dangerous rift between the people and the governing body is created, leading to small and large social protests across the country,” he said.
This is an acknowledgment of the regime’s failure, which has already plunged Iranian society into a severe economic crisis. It points to a regime that marginalizes people’s livelihoods and instead spends the nation’s capital on the expansion of fundamentalism and the development of missile programs and nuclear projects.
“In the current situation, about 60 million people in the community need assistance to survive, 30 million live below the absolute poverty line, and approximately four million young people are unemployed,” he added.
After recounting the realities of society, this regime expert pointed to the role of the youths in the previous uprisings and expresses his fear and concern about the youth’s sense of revenge. He added: “It is a very dangerous phenomenon from a sociological point of view and shows the young people’s sense of revenge against the officials, the rich, judges, cabinet ministers, and lawyers.”
The realities of a crisis-ridden society in Iran are so undeniable that this expert is forced to admit to the miserable situation of Iranian society, from which not only the youths but all other segments of society are suffering.
He added: “On the other hand, millions of employees in various institutions, from the judiciary to teachers, from employees in various public and private organizations and social organizations to workers with low salaries and those below the poverty line, are lamenting about their daily lives. And every day, we are witnessing small and large protests in different cities.
“However, while more than three million university-graduates are unemployed, thousands of girls and boys are unable to get married due to poverty. Thousands of people are searching trash bins on the streets to find food. Many workshops and factories are dormant, and unemployment is rampant. The corrupt officials and parliamentarians have allocated several hundred billion rials from the pockets of these deprived groups to cultural and religious authorities, who have not had a very useful function.”
He added, “Another point is that today, people have become more aware that some people use their position and embezzle. Of course, it is good that the judiciary has arrested some of them and is investigating their crimes. But where are the big ones and the people who continue their mischief?”
Is Iran’s Regime Carrying Russia’s Water?
The talks in Vienna over the Iranian regime’s highly controversial and suspicious nuclear program took a turn for the worst last week. Russia, after being slapped with heavy international sanctions following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, has been tying the future of the talks to its own new set of demands.
Logically, Tehran should be protesting such a move by Moscow, as Russian President Vladimir Putin is literally taking the Iranian regime’s interests’ hostage to undermine the recent sanctions on his government. However, no such protests from senior Iranian regime officials have been voiced, leaving one to conclude the mullahs need Russia’s support no matter the cost and to secure that they are willing to carry Putin’s water.
This had led to concerns being voiced by Iranian state media recently. On March 12, the state-run Etemad daily published a piece focusing on this evolving and sensitive topic. “Russia raising new issues, which has no meaning other than taking hostage Iran’s interests and the JCPOA itself, has increased concerns over the negotiation’s fate,” the piece explains, using the official term of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“The reason behind Russia demanding guarantees notwithstanding, we need to precisely and comprehensively analyze the status quo to surpass this crisis. If Russia’s request is not managed correctly, it will plunge Iran into a new round of endless tensions. Such a matter can lift the pressure off of Russia from the Ukraine issue and return it to the Middle East,” the article adds.
This turn of events has raised eyebrows and questions about the circumstances around the nuclear talks and whether nor not a final text has even been agreed to.
“The remaining differences in Vienna have not been resolved,” according to a March 12, piece published in the Iranian regime’s state-run Resalat daily. “Even if Russia had not mentioned its recent positions, most certainly we would still not be witness to a final agreement due to the fact that guarantees have not been provided regarding the JCPOA’s future, and sanctions imposed on our country by the previous U.S. government after leaving the JCPOA will not be fully lifted,” the piece continues.
The method used by the mullahs’ regime in its relations with Russia has allowed Putin to use its interests as a piece in a larger chess game involving world powers and issues far beyond Iran and the Middle East. As a result, many in the Iranian regime are wondering whether a positive turnout is now out of their hands, or even impossible.
“Russia has taken the JCPOA hostage in its conflict with the West over the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow is insisting on using Iran in the face of the West’s escalating sanctions,” according to a March 12, piece in the state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily.
“However, it appears that through such demands Russia wants to replace the U.S. as the main party to the nuclear talks… By adopting a policy of looking to the East, we have now placed our hand under Russia’s cleaver,” the piece adds.
With Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei looking to Russia and China in the past few years, it has become crystal clear that in contrast to claims made by Khamenei and his regime’s officials, the regime has been forced to sell Iran’s economic and political independence to Moscow and Beijing, two parties that obviously never have the Iranian people’s interests in mind nor consider Tehran their equal.
As we speak, Tehran is auctioning the Iranian people’s oil at cheap prices to China in exchange for goods, thus severely damaging Iran’s domestic production. To make matters even worse, the mullahs are in the process of hammering a disastrous 25-year agreement that is bound to provide China an even larger share of Iran’s economy with very little in exchange.
The Iranian regime is also in the middle of negotiations over a separate “strategic agreement” with Russia, which is already being mocked by the Iranian public as the Second Turkmenchay Treaty, in which Iran’s Qajar monarchy of the 19th century handed over large portions of Iranian territory to the Tzarist Russia.
With Khamenei placing his bets on the East, his regime has become taken hostage in the politics and interests of Eastern power hubs that care nothing about Iran and its future.
Iran Workers’ Unfair Wages
At the end of every Persian year, one of the main debates in Iran’s social and economic scene is the wage of the country’s workers. Although it was announced that the workers would receive loans, these barely cover even their most basic necessities. As a result, the workers have resumed their protests to fight for better pay.
In regard to the loans, the Iranian regime has held several meetings that have ended with no clear results. The amount they have allocated for the workers is considerably lower than the country’s inflation rate, and worse still is that the regime has shown the amount of inflation to be lower than it is in reality so that they are able to continue depleting the pockets of the workers for its malign ambitions, like terrorism and warmongering.
The workers have said that they are worried about the wages increase of 2022 because of its disproportionality with a 60 percent increase in inflation in the food sector, and a 50 to 200 percent increase in rent in working-class areas. This goes along with the lack of exchange rate control in 2021 and the regime’s contractionary policies to increase real taxes on workers and wage earners.
The cruel exploitation of these workers has been so severe that even the regime’s state-run media has been forced to admit it. On February 28, the state-run Hamdeli daily referred to the statistics of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and wrote, “Iran ranks 160th in the world with a minimum wage of $75 a month, lower than Libya, Iraq, Bangladesh, and some neighboring countries, while inflation announced by the central bank is higher than these countries and is in double digits.”
Of course, this estimate is related to the workers who receive the officially approved salary by the official employment order. However, the fact is that out of the country’s working population, nearly 14 million workers, less than three percent are officially employed.
The remaining 97% are daily workers who have temporary contracts, and employers pay them arbitrarily. These companies, mostly affiliated with the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the regime’s supreme leader’s office, often refuse to pay the workers’ pensions, health insurance premiums, accident insurance, children’s rights, and other rights related to the official labor force, and even new year’s bonuses are not paid.
The contracts are so arranged that they will expire on the first day of the last month of the year according to the Persian calendar, and then workers can only re-sign the contract again on April 4 of the following year.
The Hamdeli daily stated, “Private sector workers in Iran earn less than $50. For example, there are people who earn 9 million rials by working 12 hours a day.”
Another number that the regime often manipulates every year is the cost of basic goods for Iranian families. On February 27, the state-run website Radar-e Egthesad wrote that while the poverty line in Iran has exceeded 120 million rials, the Supreme Council of Labor has set the livelihood basket’s rate at 89,790 million rials.
The website added, “In fact, the method used to calculate workers’ wages is unrealistic and the indicators used have nothing to do with the living costs of workers and employees.”
On March 3, Ali Bigdeli, one of the regime’s experts, warned the regime of the consequences of such policies, saying, “The people’s protests against the regime will reach its peak in 2022.”
Who Is Responsible for Iran’s Starving People?
Just a few days ago, the Iranian regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi made a ridiculous claim that the absolute poverty engulfing the country will be eradicated within two weeks. With such a preposterous remark, it is no wonder that the regime’s officials and Iran’s state media have responded with sarcastic and cynical reactions.
On March 8, Ali Ghanbari, a professor at the Tarbiat Modares University, wrote in the state-run Etemad daily, “Public opinion and university professors are still stunned by such a remark. Is the president jokingly expressing these speeches?!”
Ghanbari’s question highlights a reality that the regime fears most besides the growing resistance of the Iranian people, especially the youths: Revolt by a hungry and starving nation. This is all the more a likely possibility because the number of the poor living under the poverty line has surpassed 70 percent, completely exterminating the middle class of the country.
The Arman newspaper echoed comments by Mostafa Eghlima, a social worker expert of the regime, who warned the regime about the possibility of a revolt by starving people. He wrote, “In recent months, every day a section of the community has been protesting their living conditions. Teachers and retirees were among the groups protesting their living conditions. The same is true for other occupational groups. People are unable to tolerate this situation, and if this situation continues, you will have to wait for the explosion of the starved. Do not doubt that if this situation continues, if the explosion of those starving does not happen this year, it will happen next year.”
Raisi is not the only one who expressed his fear about the growing number of starving people and its danger to the regime. One of the most infamous, cruel, and corrupt mullahs, The Guardian Council Chairman Ahmad Janati spoke about ‘the miracle of satisfying the hungry’, in his recent speech in the regime’s Assembly of Experts. He went on to add that his sovereign state cannot satisfy the starving people after 40 years.
Raisi’s remarks faced much criticism by the regime’s media too, which attacked him as one of the main officials responsible for this situation, reminding him of his problematic conduct over the past 40 years.
On March 9, the state-run daily Hamdeli wrote, “While Janati’s recent remarks can be simply ignored, one should, nevertheless, ask that what role is he playing in this? Which element of the system is to blame for this situation? Except that a group of officials with any name and title must be responsible for this situation.”
In another article titled ‘Who is responsible for the starved?’, the same daily wrote, “Jannati, as an influential cleric in the government and among the Iranian clergy, has had unparalleled power and influence for forty years in approving the qualifications of those present at the highest levels of law-making and expanding the cultural and political discourse of the Islamic Republic.
“What role does he ascribe to himself? And how much of the blame is he willing to take? The third point is that ultimately where and which institution of the government has had fundamental flaws that are country this rich, we cannot feed the hungry?”
The same day, the state-run daily Jahan-e Sanat, affiliated with the regime’s so-called reformist faction, wrote, “The gentlemen were voted and took the office with the promises of resolving the economic and livelihood problems, and finally nothing is changing in the miserable situation of the people.
“Finally, the problems have become so acute that it would not be a bad thing if the officials’ preoccupation were to feed the people. On the other hand, saying that the resolution of this issue requires a miracle is worth pondering about given that every day the media outlets of the principlist faction write about an improving situation, facilitating the sale of oil, gaining revenue, and in a word, not needing the JCPOA and the removal of the sanctions.”
The paper quoted Abbas Abdi, who was among the occupier of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, who said sarcastically, “The bigger miracle was to starve the people, and this happened.”
Iran: “Another shape of protest,” promotes the uprisings
Iran regime’s experts and observers are expressing openly their fear about the growing people’s protests. And of course, the regime’s factions are blaming each other about this dire situation.
But what is the source of all these protests and what has caused such a volatile atmosphere in the country? And how will this situation end, and what are the regime’s solutions to overcome this situation?
In an article entitled ‘Hollow promise is the cause of the people protests” the state-run daily Hamdeli on February 28, 2022, wrote, “Popular protests set a new record in recent months. In many cases, protesters have witnessed violent clashes instead of officials responding. This, according to experts, has not only failed to reduce the fire of protests but also fueled them.”
The state-run media are blaming the government-run mafia, without an exception controlled by the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his office, as the next cause of the increasing protests in Iran.
The state-run daily Setareh-e Sobh, admitted to this reality on February 28, “The mafias in Iran have deceptively taken over a significant part of the country’s decision-making system. One of these lies is that they say that 90 percent of the country’s freshwater is used for agriculture, while it is a lie to justify the use of water for high water consuming industries in dry areas by mafias that are involved in dam-building and water distribution.”
The paper warned the regime’s officials about the increasingly explosive situation, “When the officials wake up from their sleep, they suddenly see that the share of marginalized people in the urban population will be 25 percent. For example, the officials of the Prisons Organization say that 75 percent of the prisoners are from the suburbs.”
But now the regime’s officials are realizing that due to their massive corruption even people close to the government are joining the protests. During the parliament’s budget bill review meeting on February 28, Jabar Kouchakinejad a regime’s MP said,
“These gatherings in front of parliament are mainly due to the non-implementation of the law by the government, which is why you see the Isargarans (Basiji and IRGC members who fought in the Iran-Iraq war) and teachers come out to demand their rights.”
A regime cleric and MP Salman Zaker expressed his fear over this alarming situation, “We must not be a means of harming others. We are now neglecting the livelihood of the people and the chicken meat during the Eid holidays. How about that? Every time we go there, we pass in front of the parliament, they (people) shout and say, ‘Sir, why did that MP run away?’” he said on February 26.
And some of the regime’s officials are admitting that the people are now targeting the regime’s leader. In an interview with the regime’s Ofogh TV on February 27, Jalal Rashidi Kouchi a regime’s MP -, said, “Why do we have to take a series of measures to harm our country and our leader?”
In an interview published in the state-run daily Shargh on February 28, Hossein Raghfar a regime’s economist warned about a change in the shape of the protests and said: “These protests may take other forms.”
He acknowledged the continuation of the protests and their growth and said: “At least in the last 30 years, that is, since 1994, we have experienced about 90 bread riots and the deprived in the country in various dimensions. Some of them are events that we witnessed in December 2017, November 2019, and a few months ago in Khuzestan and Isfahan.”
Previously about this changing shape of the protests, the regime’s Chief of police pointed to one of the regime’s main fears which are the increasing discovered weapons in the hands of the people.
