The release of a painful video of an abandoned baby in a bin in Tehran coincided with the collapse of the Metropol building in Abadan. These two events show the depth of the effects of the regime’s corruption and looting on a rich country like Iran, and more importantly, its people.
The truth of the matter is that Iran has more than enough resources to prevent such bitter episodes from happening, but thanks to the Iranian regime’s politics, none of the wealth is reaching the Iranian people. As a result, people are forced to live their life constantly confronted by dangers created by the regime. No one is excluded, from an abandoned baby to those who seek to gain a little more wealth by investing their property in businesses such as the Metropol building in Abadan.
This is a bitter, painful, breathtaking, and unfortunately, believable story that highlights the hidden cruelty under the skin of Iran’s cities.
In reference to this widespread corruption, the regime’s state-run daily Arman-e Meli wrote in its publication, “We should not lose sight that in fatal accidents with a high number of casualties there is a footprint of corruption. We must now understand more than ever that corruption, selfishness, and personal and group utilitarianism threaten people’s lives besides they are plundering them.”
It added, “These corrupt relations and disregarding rules and regulations are suddenly becoming evident in places such as the Metropol building in Abadan which create disasters. Weak managements that are determined solely based on political, familial, and acquaintance relationships, even if they are not tainted with corruption, create the ground for corruption, and corruption spreads like a thousand-headed cancer and keeps no place safe from pollution.”
Highlighting the need to learn from these tragedies, the Arman-e Meli also stated, “Let’s learn for once, at least from the suffering of the survivors and victims of the Abadan Metropol, that there is no compliment and that problems cannot be solved by a few administrative orders. We need big and courageous changes in structures and decisions to define everything around national interests, security, and safety.”
The collapse of the Metropol building happened despite promises from the regime’s officials, after a similar accident in Tehran concerning the Plasco building, that construction projects would be fundamentally overhauled and strict regulations will be enacted, with controls and oversight to prevent accidents, but this did not happen.
Now the 10-story building in Abadan has collapsed, killing 28 people so far, and even worse, no one knows how many people are left under the rubble. The possibility of the rest of the building collapsing, just like in the Plasco incident, is a danger to rescuers, who are mostly civilians. Videos on social media have routinely shown that during similar accidents, and even during natural disasters, the regime does not provide any aid to those affected, and the people are left to deal with the aftermath on their own.
In Iran, all accidents have an unusual number and occurrence. No one can ever give you the exact number of the people dying, or better said killed or injured, due to the regime’s policies on the streets, factories, or construction sites, and the regime’s penchant for hiding the truth.
