The situation of Iran’s middle class is becoming day after day more critical, and the people’s toleration is weakening more and more, and the regime’s officials are calling this the red line.
A situation that has driven the middle class to a position of riots and protests. So far that the state-run media are writing about something that is not usual in censored Iran’s media.
The state-run daily Mostaghel daily in an article entitled “the Conservative middle class” wrote:
“The government’s inability to address issues such as inflation and other economic problems, as well as the coronavirus issue and its peripheral problems, has left the middle class generally dissatisfied and complaining about the status quo.”
This news daily concluded: “With the double economic pressure, the purchasing power of the middle class has decreased, and this class has moved closer to the lower class, and this integration and transformation can lead to civil disobedience in the long run.”
Following the concern expressed by this daily the state-run daily Mardom Salari in an article entitled “The people with the contraction of the government does not accept any excuse” wrote:
“A large part of society lives below the poverty line. This problem is also very serious. Another issue that the government will face is systematic corruption. This systematic corruption has practically turned the government and the bureaucratic organization that should serve the society into a mechanism that systematically produces corruption, dissatisfaction, and inefficiency. In this regard, if no solution is devised, the government and first of all the members of the cabinet and the president will be swallowed up in this cycle of corruption and inefficiency.”
The people’s hatred for this corruption is increasing. So much so that even the regime’s officials are forced to admit and attack people and organizations which are under the control of the supreme leader or the IRGC.
On September 15, 2021, a cleric and lawmaker Nasrollah Pejmanfar in the parliamentary session at this day about the increasing and protected corruption in the country said:
“What is going on in this country, are we allowing that such things stay hidden. In which place in the world such things are hidden and classified? Through the Article 90 Commission, I wrote a letter to some of these institutions, an official, and said announce your income. Its chef wrote, confidential, top secret and sent it to me.
“They are rent-seeking from everything, even for a bakery, from a bakery license they are seeking rents. Today we are ashamed of a young, educated man who has a master’s degree and a doctorate and is ashamed and is asking for a worker right to be able to work at someplace.” (ICANA, September 15, 2021)
Then Mohsen Dahnavi, another MP, about this corruption and situation of the young people asked, “Unemployed youth, many of whom are also educated, so what is the cause of this unemployment?” He then pointed to the regime’s corruption and said:
“It takes two years if a young man today wants to run a cattle farm, he needs 118 documents and approvals, and one and a half years, we waste his time in the stairwells and corridors so that he becomes tired and forgets the job creation.
“Where in the world is such a situation. There is the capital, unemployed young professionals exist, and its need exists too, but some people are getting rich by giving licenses, then who gets a license in this space? Those who have connections.” (ICANA, September 15, 2021)
In reality, many officials are suffering from something called, “The illusion of understanding the truth” syndrome, as has been described by some state media reports. This is a syndrome that can become dangerous for the public and for the officials themselves, analysts say.
In a society like Iran where the people are tired of politics, the officials think that they are specialized in any field and can express themselves about anything and give expert opinions. The first outcome of such a vision is the destruction of the country’s elites.
Eventually, the society’s old wounds which have been accumulated over the years will appear again and force the people to riot and desire to overthrow the regime – something which the regime fears most.
