The statements of the regimes’ president, Ebrahim Raisi, regarding the shortage of medicine for specific patients, have led to criticism from a wide spectrum of the people.

In his speech at the “Thirteenth National Elite Conference,” Ebrahim Raisi responded to the parents of individuals with special diseases who had protested against the shortage of medicine, saying, “First, life is in the hands of God,” and “Second, how do you know that we cannot produce the necessary medicines ourselves?”

Of course, the regime’s senior officials have made such similar statements before. For example, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health of Hassan Rouhani’s government, had said to a baker who complained about the medical and physiotherapy expenses, “Massage it yourself!”

Recently, Bahram Eynollahi, the regime’s Minister of Health, claimed that Iranian medicines will be exported to “40 countries around the world,” and many countries consider Iranian medicines to be “effective and successful.”

The remarks of Raisi and his Minister of Health about the production of Iranian medicine are being discussed while the country has repeatedly faced the problem of shortage and high prices of medicine, and the medicine for special patients is still scarce.

Many people lose their lives due to the lack of medicine, including Akram Amini, a cancer patient journalist who complained about the lack of cancer medicine and eventually passed away.

In June, Younes, the head of the Iranian Thalassemia Association, said that the mortality rate of this disease has increased six fold since May 2018, and annually 260 thalassemia patients lose their lives due to “shortage and unavailability” of medicine.

Arab added that Iranian-made medicines do not work for these patients.

The use of substandard raw materials in the production of domestic medicines and the side effects resulting from their consumption are among the issues raised regarding domestically produced medicines.

The regime’s authorities blame the problem of medicine shortage on Western sanctions. However, some experts in the past have pointed out that authorities, under the pretext of sanctions, prevented the import of the drug “Desferal” for thalassemia patients so that the “low-quality” domestic product, including the production of the “Osve” company, could be sold.

The United States has stated that the export of humanitarian items, especially medical and even sanitary supplies, to Iran is exempt from sanctions. According to official statistics from the European Union, 27 members of this union exported over $2.4 billion to Iran from March to November 2021.

Iran ranks 85th in terms of pharmaceutical exports worldwide.

Data from the “World’s Top Exporters” website in 2022 shows that Israel, with $3.471 billion in sales, ranks 21st globally and first in the region in terms of pharmaceutical exports. According to this statistic, Turkey ranks 29th, Cyprus ranks 46th, Pakistan ranks 52nd, and the United Arab Emirates ranks 61st.

Behram Eynollahi, in his recent statements, once again referred to Iran as “one of the most successful countries in the region” in controlling COVID-19 and mentioned the production of six domestic COVID-19 vaccines.

Official mortality statistics obtained from countries by “Our World in Data” – which, according to experts, are significantly lower than the actual figures in Iran – show that Iran has had the highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the region.

In terms of vaccination, a recent study conducted by Iranian researchers focusing on “vaccination speed” has been published, which indicates that if Iran follows the COVID-19 vaccination model of Turkey, it could prevent an additional 50,000 deaths compared to the current mortality rate.

According to the same model, if Iran adopts the vaccination model of Bahrain, it could prevent 75,300 deaths, especially among individuals over the age of 50.

The preference for domestic vaccine production and the prohibition of Western vaccines by Ali Khamenei were among the reasons for the slow pace of COVID-19 vaccination in Iran, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Evaz Heydarpour, a physician and former member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), stated that every day we hear about “a professor or associate professor of medical schools” migrating. He told the regime’s “Khabar Online” website: “Every year, 10,000 individuals from the Iranian medical workforce (physicians, nurses, midwives) migrate.”

He declared that the “best geriatric specialists” are leaving the country due to the wave of migrating doctors. Heydarpour added, “If I were the Minister of Health and witnessed this number of doctors migrating every day, I would resign.”

An advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, citing the “Youth, Population, and Family Support Law,” announced that the country’s healthcare system is facing a shortage of 20,000 midwives.

Shahla Khosravi, an advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, stated on September 10 to the semiofficial ISNA news agency that the treatment sector requires “12,000 midwives,” and the health sector also needs “8,000 midwives.”

Reza Laripour, the spokesperson for the regime’s Medical Council, had previously stated on September 3 that the “migration of the medical community” had doubled compared to the years before the coronavirus pandemic, and now Iran sends doctors to five continents.

The increase in the migration trend of Iranian healthcare professionals is due to dissatisfaction with the current situation and the disorder in the country’s affairs. During recent years, they have faced intensified confrontation by security and military institutions due to their declarations of opposition, expression of protest, or treatment of injured protesters. Some have also been killed by the Iranian regime’s repressive forces.

Professional and economic pressures on nurses in Iran continue, and the latest report from the semiofficial ILNA news agency highlights the issue of low rates of “mandatory overtime.” According to the report, nurses are required to work 130 hours of overtime for a payment of 19 million rials (approximately $37.25).

The news agency quotes members of the “Nurse House” who state that “nurses work overtime every month according to their duty hours, but the amount they receive is very insignificant.”

Based on an “overtime work deposit” text message, a nurse mentioned in the ILNA report that after several months of delay, the February overtime payment was 19 million rials for 130 hours.

The situation of nurses’ rights and wages has been one of the challenging issues since the beginning of the year. On April 16, the state-run Etemad newspaper quoted a nurse who said that for every 197 duty hours and 155 overtime hours in a month, they received approximately 18 million rials (approximately $35.29) as the nursing service fee.

In March, the continuation of discriminatory and “illegal” payments to Iranian nurses led to protests. Nurses in various provinces held protest gatherings.

In this regard, the Free Workers’ Union of Iran reported on April 17 that nurses in five provinces gathered in protest against the “government’s violation of nursing fees” and chanted slogans calling for the resignation of the “incompetent minister.”

The dire conditions for nurses and the failure to meet their minimum demands ultimately led to the President of the Iranian Nursing Organization mentioning on September 18 that the necessary “attraction and retention” conditions for nurses in the country were not being met and that “five to six Iranian nurses” are migrating daily.

Mohammad Mirzabeygi, speaking about the migration of nurses to the ILNA news agency, stated that between “100 to 150 nurses” migrate abroad monthly, which is a matter of concern for the country.

The Mullahs’ regime’s four-decade rule has plunged Iranian society into a web of crises, some of which have reached catastrophic proportions. While it’s challenging to quantify the exact number of crises, experts in social economics within the regime have identified at least seven mega-crises. These encompass issues such as pensions, bank failures, insurance, water and environmental concerns, energy shortages, hyperinflation, and investment pitfalls. Occasionally, additional crises like government debts, the non-oil economy, and unemployment are added to the list, further accentuating the grim statistics.

What’s noteworthy in this context is the intricate interplay and mutual influence of these mega-crises on each other. For instance, inflation and the worsening poverty rate are intimately connected, with rising inflation pushing more families below the poverty line every day. The colossal bank bankruptcy crisis, akin to an iceberg of unknown depth and size, is directly linked to the government’s mounting debts. The government, often portrayed by the regime’s media as treating banks like inexhaustible piggy banks, is ironically the largest debtor within the Iranian banking system.

Moreover, the super-aging crisis is inextricably linked to the pension crisis, with both issues surging in parallel. The aging population is further exacerbating the retirement crisis.

Pension funds represent the sole source of financial security for hardworking individuals who have diligently saved over the years. However, almost all of Iran’s 18 pension funds find themselves in dire straits. Despite legal constraints against withdrawing funds except for retirees’ monthly payments, these funds have become susceptible to theft and embezzlement under the rule of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A glaring example is the grand embezzlement within the cultural reserve fund, initially reported as an 8 trillion rial corruption case, later revised to 15 trillion rials, and ultimately settled at 14 trillion rials. To understand the culprits behind this astronomical embezzlement, one needs to consider that this fund comprises four holdings in ‘petrochemical and energy, finance and investment, construction and services,’ encompassing over 30 companies in total.

When petrochemicals are mentioned, it’s impossible to overlook the close ties between the IRGC and petrochemical holdings, exemplifying the reach of this entity into every corner of the country’s economy, bolstered by Khamenei’s unwavering support.

Retirees have consistently taken to the streets in recent years to assert their rights. Their protests, borne out of frustration with the government’s indifference to their pleas and legal requests, symbolize an ongoing uprising among the Iranian people. Recognizing that they make no progress within the confines of the government’s bureaucracy, they have adopted the slogan ‘only on the street, we will get our rights’ and united their demands with those of other segments of Iranian society. In recent days, cities across the country have witnessed retiree gatherings.

The state-run daily Ham-mihan aptly states, “None of Iran’s major challenges, including the formidable pension fund crisis, can be resolved in isolation. These mega-challenges are so interconnected that expert methods alone cannot tackle them. They demand comprehensive political solutions. Without such solutions, these crises will only deepen and broaden, rendering conventional remedies increasingly limited and ineffective.”

Therefore, the mega-crisis surrounding retirees and their depleted funds, a consequence of mullah-led embezzlement, finds no resolution within the corrupt structure. Not long ago, a social insurance manager suggested a disturbing solution: “We may have to sell Qeshm and Kish [islands] to pay retirees’ salaries.”

An official news agency affiliated with the Iranian regime, in a report that was later deleted, announced that Armita Geravand‘s “vital signs” have “changed and deteriorated to some extent” in the past few days.

On October 1^st, the 16-year-old schoolgirl was transferred outside a Tehran subway car while unconscious, moments after entering the subway with her friends. A video released by the Tehran Subway company shows that shortly after Armita Geravand entered the subway car, she was transferred outside by several individuals while she was unconscious. However, news circulating on social media suggests that security agents pushed her because she was not wearing a hijab, resulting in her head hitting a metal bar and becoming unconscious. After the incident, she was transferred to Tehran’s Fajr Hospital, and no one is allowed to approach her.

The regime’s Borna news agency, affiliated with the Ministry of Sports and Youth, announced on October 11 in a brief report based on its “journalist’s investigations” and despite “the continuous efforts of the medical staff at Fajr Hospital” that Armita Geravand’s “relatively stable vital signs have changed and deteriorated to some extent in the past few days.”

Borna later removed this news from its various platforms after its publication. The news agency also stated that “the medical team’s efforts to improve” the condition of this 16-year-old student “are still ongoing.”

Despite the removal of this report, some domestic media outlets in Iran, including regime’s Khabar Online news website, have published this report, quoting the Borna news agency.

In the latest reactions of the regime’s officials regarding Armita’s incident in the Tehran subway, Ahmad Vahidi, the regime’s Minister of Interior, said: “This issue is completely clear and obvious. It was an accident that could happen every day anywhere in the country. The enemies of the country do not want the atmosphere of our country to be calm. They tried to create chaos.”

Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old student who was going to school with two of her friends on October 1, collided with an iron pole as a result of being pushed by a Morality Police officer at the “Shohada” metro station and fell into a state of coma. She has been hospitalized in Fajr Hospital, affiliated with the Army Medical Sciences University, under “security” conditions for the past 11 days.

According to reports, Armita Geravand’s friends and family have been threatened not to speak to any media unless authorized by the authorities.

The area surrounding Fajr Hospital is under “strict security,” and plainclothes forces are stationed there.

Michael McCaul, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, expressed concern about the attack on Armita Geravand and, while expressing disgust, considered it similar to an attack that led to the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini a year ago, which led to nationwide protests.

The regime’s morality police arrested her on September 13 for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab, the mandatory head covering imposed upon Iran’s women. Two hours after her arrest, she was taken to a hospital where, three days later, she succumbed to skull injuries that had been sustained during her detention.

In addition, Amnesty International also criticized the “cover-up” by the Iranian regime and called for an independent international investigation into the “serious injury” of Armita Geravand. Raha Bahreini, a researcher for the organization, told Voice of America that there is serious concern that this schoolgirl has also become a victim of forced hijab violence.

Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, in a message posted on X, said, “The Iranian regime continues to prove itself as a ruthless and autocratic state with no regard for its own citizens.”

Iran’s morality police returned to the streets earlier this year to enforce mandatory veiling laws.

Amnesty International wrote in a report dated July 26, 2023: “The Iranian authorities are doubling down on their oppressive methods of policing and severely oppressing Iranian women and girls for defying degrading compulsory veiling laws. Countless women have been suspended or expelled from universities, barred from sitting final exams, and denied access to banking services and public transport. Hundreds of businesses have been forcibly closed for not enforcing compulsory veiling. The intensified crackdown exposes the dubious nature of the Iranian authorities’ previous claims of disbanding the ‘morality’ police, amid contradictory official statements over its return to Iranian streets.”