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Iran’s Regime and Its Expertise in Reversing the Truth

Pooya Stone
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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

Jubin Katiraie
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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

Hoshang Amiri
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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

Mehdi Hosseini
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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:

  1. Khamenei and his regime have never given up the evil desire to develop a nuclear bomb.
  2. This vicious policy, which is endangering world peace and security, is contained under a ridiculous fatwa.
  3. Appeasement with this regime, under any guise, will only encourage the regime to gain the bomb.
  4. 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.

What Do We Know About Iran Regime’s Mollah Al-Movaheddin Charity?

Jubin Katiraie
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What Do We Know About Iran Regime’s Mollah Al-Movaheddin Charity?

The Iranian regime’s Molla Al-Movaheddin Charity was established in 1987 by Hussein Marashi, the cousin of Effat Marashi, who is the wife of former regime president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The charity is one of the regime’s financial empires with undeclared assets and wealth. However, its connection to Mahan Airlines, whose name is linked to the IRGC’s Quds Force, further questions the public credibility of the charity.

This charity owns 100% of Mahan Airlines shares, and 50% of Kerman Khodro shares.

The charity, which is headed by the current spokesman for the regime’s Executives of Construction Party Hossein Marashi, was officially established in the Kerman Registry Office in order to ‘achieve the goals of the Islamic Republic and address the affairs of the deprived people by creating employment and eliminating underprivileged areas.’

It can be said that this charity is the largest financial cartel of the so-called reformist faction of the regime, which has a very wide range of activities, and it currently owns the following companies: Arman Motor Arg; Omran Arg; Negin Bam; Bam Khodro Arman Electric Services; Carmania Automobile; World Tourism Organization; Kerman Civil Organization; Arian Mahtab Gostar Company; Omran Kar Sirjanan; and Jopar passenger trains.

One interesting fact is that Qassem Soleimani, the slain commander of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, is still listed among the members of the charity board.

Despite its extensive activities and turnover of a billion rials, there is no clear record of its economic activities. Responding to a question about the financial transparency of this charity, the charity’s founder Hossein Marashi explicitly stated that the law did not mention to whom they should give their financial reports.

While many corruption cases regarding the charity have been uncovered over the years, none of these cases have been investigated due to the support from top-ranking regime officials. When it was suggested that the cases of corruption and lack of financial transparency should be discussed in the regime’s parliament, influential figures stepped in to prevent this process from taking place.

The biggest case against the charity is regarding the activities of Mahan Airlines, a company that has been used by the IRGC’s Quds Force to move troops and equipment for military and terrorist operations outside of Iran in recent years.

This charity has also had extensive economic relations with the infamous Babak Zanjani who helped the regime circumvent international sanctions with the help of Mahan Airlines. Among these corrupt activities was the case of Hamid Arabnejad Khanouki from Mahan, a member of the board of directors of Faraz Qeshm Airlines, which was later renamed Qeshm Airlines.

This charity has also had trade and economic relations with Shahram Jazayeri, another of the regime’s corrupt agents who had the case of Kerman’s Haft Bagh land grabbing in his record but was never audited due to the support from the regime’s officials.

Another surprising fact about this foundation is that despite being founded and operated by the regime’s so-called reformists, many of the regime’s IRGC officers are shareholders or members of its board of trustees. Gholam-Ali Abu Hamzeh, the former commander of the Sarallah Corps in Kerman province, and the names of several other senior IRGC commanders can be seen among board members in this so-called charity.

Reports have indicated that the foundation received at least 400 million Euros, at an exchange rate of 42,000 tomans preferred currency, from Rouhani’s government, but there is no information on how and where this huge amount of money has been spent. More shocking reports have also uncovered that a member of its board of trustees is currently present and active in 23 companies with different positions.

In 2005, Hossein Marashi attempted to change the statute of the charity by getting the signatures of Mohammad Reza Bahonar and Qassem Soleimani to join the board of trustees, but the governor and representative of Kerman announced that they would not be accepting the amendment. However, Marashi, who relied heavily on Soleimani, did not pay any attention to their protests.

According to Article 13 of this statute, the board of trustees must appoint a successor and inherit this charity in practice. Qassem Soleimani’s daughter Zaynab reportedly donated around $2 million towards the marriage of Lebanese girls, which appears to have been funded from her inheritance from her father’s share in this charity.

In addition to these activities, this charity has also established a bank. The Resalat Bank has more than 30 branches across Iran, and some of the senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards are partners on the board of directors.

No Foreign Company Is Willing To Invest in Iran Regime’s Ports

Pooya Stone
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No Foreign Company Is Willing To Invest in Iran Regime’s Ports

A brief look at the extent of foreign investments in Iran’s economy reveals the real situation of the overall economic situation.

At the heart of this story is the fate of the Chabahar port. It has now been more than two years since a contract for investment has been signed by India, but the Indians have not implemented it yet. As a result, none of the regime’s goals for this port have been realized.

The Indians have requested the application of international arbitration to resolve disputes with the regime and did not allow the regime to use the six port cranes installed by Indian companies at another port, called the Beheshti port.

Rouzbeh Mokhtari, the chairman of the regime’s Board of the Shipping Association, accused the Indians of buying time and added that he believes that no country or foreign company has the appetite to invest in Iran’s ports. He stated that the reason for this is that all of them are waiting to analyze the fate of the regime’s nuclear negotiations.

On April 24, the state-run ILNA news agency wrote in their publication, “The Indian company even with this amount of green light that it has received for investing in Chabahar port, has still problems in the banking sector, and the fear of sanctions has created a graver situation than the sanctions itself.”

They added, “Although the activity in Chabahar port is not subject to sanctions, fear of sanctions for international companies has prevented the formation of the necessary determination to fulfill the contractual obligations and has caused the Indian side to move with caution in the case of the Chabahar port. The Indian operator has not fulfilled its obligations, and one of the reasons is the continuation of sanctions.”

As reported by ILNA, according to published statistics, India has not made any other significant steps to increase ship and cargo traffic in Chabahar, despite the significant volume of trade with Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asian countries, in addition to the transit of 75,000 tons of wheat through the Beheshti port to Afghanistan in 2020.

According to the Indian media, New Delhi has not yet provided the promised $150 million credit line for the development of the Beheshti port. In February 2016, the loan to Iran was approved through EXIM Bank, but the lender is said to be reluctant to provide the funds due to problems with US sanctions against the regime.

More than 6 years have passed since the agreement on the establishment of transportation, and trade corridors between Iran, India, and Afghanistan called the ‘Chabahar Agreement’ was signed.

According to the agreement reached between Iran and India, the state-owned company India Ports Global Limited (IPGL), under the management of India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, was selected as the operator of Chabahar port and was scheduled for a 10-year contract after two years of operations at the Beheshti Port.

Now, Chabahar has not only become the transportation and trade corridor between India and Afghanistan and other countries in the region as the regime wished, but it has been downgraded as a port for the transportation of basic goods and minerals and the transit statistics of the container, and transit cargoes at this port have been drastically reduced.

Recently, the Indian government chose Pakistan over Iran to ship its wheat to Afghanistan, and just last week, it was reported that Indian cargo had been sent to Russia via Georgia. Considering Russia’s critical situation at the moment, it seemed like this was the best opportunity for the regime to be a bridge for the transfer of transit cargo from India to Russia, but of course, this did not happen.

The Cause of Violence in Iran’s Society

Hoshang Amiri
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The Cause of Violence in Iran’s Society

More often than not, the bitter news published by the Iranian regime’s media or distributed by the people on social media is sad and unbearable.

News about poverty, misery, critical economic situation, and social crises have become a common occurrence, and it seems that people are getting used to such a situation. It may very well be the regime’s evil intention to desensitize people about their miserable situation in a bid to accelerate the speed of the social and moral collapse.

In such an atmosphere, there is no room for the people to think and deal with politics, the future of their society, and of course, the regime’s crimes. One of the dangerous consequences of such an approach by the regime has been the expansion of violence in society.

On April 20, the state-run Hamdeli daily wrote, “In Iran, in addition to the (miserable) economic situation, from radio and television to the officials, on a daily basis, they all are busy spreading violence and hatred. Forensic statistics confirm the rage of the people and the aggression in society. Last year, nearly 100,000 people in Tehran went to a forensic doctor because of a dispute.”

In an interview with the state-run daily Rouydad-e 24 on April 13, Hassan Lofti, a member of the regime’s parliamentary social commission, said, “Depression and many social tensions are rampant.”

Such news is abundant in the regime’s media. In another article, the Hamdeli daily wrote, “What has now raised the level of violence in Iranian society is the status of poverty, unemployment, inability to earn a living and class differences. Violence has become rampant.”

Giving a glimpse of this social crisis, they added, “It seems that the garbage bins in many cities do not cover the needs of the many garbage collectors. If you take a short stroll in the streets of the capital, you will see many people from 10-11 years old boys to families and even women busy collecting garbage. People who are collecting garbage with trucks, cars, motorbikes, and bicycles to the poorer who are collecting garbage with shopping carts or plastic bags.”

In reference to the root of the increasing rage in Iran’s society, the state-run Shafa Online daily explained, “It is predictable that when some political and ruling figures in the country promote violent discourse and behavior, violence in society increases as a consequence.”

Discussing the regime’s repressive actions, which have a direct effect on the people’s behavior, this newspaper added, “When violent discourse is promoted from public forums and in contrast to the law, or when it is declared that some music lovers must leave a particular city, it is natural that violent discourse manifests itself in form of violent behavior.”

They further added, “But another issue that forms the roots of violence in society goes back to the pressures on public opinion for a variety of reasons. During the Iran-Lebanon soccer match, it was observed that women were mistreated and attacked with pepper spray. These pressures also form the deep roots of violence in society. The next important issue is the spread of poverty and difficulties in earning a living. A person who has difficulties in meeting his or her basic needs cannot exhibit peaceful behaviors.”

In its concluding paragraph, Hamdeli daily confessed to the lack of freedom in Iran and its consequences despite all the regime’s claims about human rights and democracy. It wrote, “In a society where there is no happiness, there exists nothing. For example, in India, a large portion of the population is poor, to the extent that some people are born as cardboard sleepers and die as cardboard sleepers, but the TV programs and the atmosphere of that society are happy because there is freedom. Freedom generates happiness.”

Women of Iran, at the Forefront of Dismissals and Redundancies

Jubin Katiraie
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Women of Iran, at the Forefront of Dismissals and Redundancies

Heavily rooted in the Iranian regime’s misogynistic culture and policies, one of the biggest crises that the regime has inflicted on the Iranian society is the poor living and working conditions of women. Many women who are heads of their households are finding it extremely difficult to support their families due to the lack of job opportunities.

This has created many dangerous social crises. According to the regime’s official statistics, over the past decade, the number of women heads of households has increased by 58 percent in comparison to the number of men.

Currently, the population of women who are the heads of their households goes beyond 3 million across Iran, with around 7 million under their care. Due to unemployment, or the lack of suitable jobs, these women are desperately struggling to get by.

Some of these families, who are supported by the regime’s ‘so-called’ Khomeini Relief foundation, live on low pensions, which are below the ‘absolute poverty line’. According to regime experts and the state-run media, these families live below the ‘death poverty line.’

All of the problems that have befallen these women and their families are due to the low rate of women’s economic participation, which is decreasing yearly. Many women are forced to turn to ‘fake’ jobs, such as peddling on the streets.

The regime’s Statistical Center has reported that the unemployment rate among women with associate degrees and master’s degrees is more than twice that of men, and in doctoral degrees, this figure is in some cases three times or even higher.

However, as is the case with many of the regime’s statistics, these figures have been deliberately downgraded. On April 9, the state-run media outlet, Farhikhtegan wrote an analysis of the status of various indicators of women’s employment, concluding that around 71 percent of graduate women in the country are unemployed.

Regime experts have previously indicated that most of Iran’s terminated employment contracts belong to women, and they face larger threats of layoffs and unemployment than men do. In other words, unemployment is the prime problem for more than 90 percent of Iranian women.

On the other hand, the number of employed women across Iran has decreased from 18.2 percent in 2018 to 17.8 percent in 2019, before dropping to 15.7 percent in 2020.

Previously in May of 2021, the Tehran Chamber of Commerce conducted a report examining the labor force indicators of men and women in Tehran province in the third quarter of 2020. According to the report, the unemployment rate for women aged 15 to 24 in Tehran province was more than 45 percent, a worrying figure for the country’s female population.

Termination of contracts and the chronic unemployment of women have intensified greatly since the coronavirus outbreak which has become the main excuse for employers to remove women from the workplace.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, the population of female employees has dropped by 830,000. Such a dramatic fall has not been seen in the country since 2005.

A review of statistics by the regime’s Ministry of Welfare also shows that job security for women is more vulnerable than for men.

Dropouts, Mullahs’ Annual Gift for Iran’s Youths

Hoshang Amiri
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Dropouts, Mullahs’ Annual Gift for Iran’s Youths

Dropping out of school in order to work and help their families has become one of the main social crises for children in Iran. Many children, even before having the chance to start their education properly and build their own future, are forced to stop studying, leaving these dropouts facing extremely bleak economic and social prospects.

Millions of children and youths across the country are routinely denied or have limited access to education. For those who are fortunate enough to have the opportunity for some level of public schooling, this is often limited to a primary education, which will not help these children enough to build a brighter future for themselves.

Even for those who do attend high school, the promise for a future based on their education is dim, which is causing many students to drop out, in addition to the students who are forced to leave the school at the very first stages.

This crisis has created a society of children who are left on the streets, struggling to survive. Across Iran, the number of these children has now reached one million.

By examining the recent publications from the Iranian regime’s media outlets, we will find thousands of reasons and statistics for such a situation. Although many of these state-run outlets are hiding the real reason behind this crisis, namely the government corruption, inequality, and wrongheaded educational policies.

According to Alireza Kazemi, the regime’s acting Education Minister, in 2021, “210,000 elementary school students and 760,000 high school students” dropped out of education.

The Statistics Center of Iran has announced the dropout statistics of “primary and secondary schools” in the academic year 2020-2021 which is “about 970,871 thousand students.”

This statistic of dropouts in Tehran alone is the highest number in the country. We can only imagine how extreme the situation is in other regions of the country, especially in the poor and border regions.

Behrouz Nazari, the Director of the Research Group on Education and Studies Development and the Development of the University Jihad Organization said, “Tehran is one of the cities with a high number of working children and school dropouts.”

Completely disregarding the regime’s corruption and the social inequality in Iran, he added, “Environmental poverty causes children to be sent to work centers instead of studying.”

Along with the shocking numbers of dropouts in Iran, another aspect that is adding to this crisis is the decline in the quality of education that children are receiving. Many officials are trying to attribute this situation to coronavirus, but this problem existed long before the pandemic began. Ironically, many families were forced to keep their children out of school because they could not afford to pay for tablets and laptops.

Alireza Kazemi explained, “I am talking about the low quality of education in the pre-Coronavirus era, when the skills of reading, writing, and literacy in education were not of high quality, even at that time.”

This is a sad situation for the country’s hope and its future. With the spread of such systematic destruction, the acceleration of dropouts cannot be compensated, and it will only harm future generations and subsequently, the country’s progression.

During Obama’s presidency, the US government handed over about $1.7 billion in cash to the regime. Simply calculated, even with just half of this money, the regime could eradicate unemployment and the crises of child labor and dropouts, but with the regime’s priorities like its nuclear and missile projects, this is unimaginable.

Iran Regime’s Endless Scandals

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran Regime’s Endless Scandals

Over the past few days, one of the biggest news stories in the Iranian regime’s media has been about its parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s daughter traveling to Turkey to buy nursery items, or as the media have referred to it, ‘baby-stuff-gate’.

The reaction from the Iranian people has been sheer bewilderment as this news is completely irrelevant in comparison to the regime’s hundreds of cases of embezzlement, astronomical thefts, and human rights violations. By this logic, this story should not have generated any attention.

Rightly so, it has triggered a lot of mockery and outrage from the Iranian people, as well as curses against the regime, with the story being one of the main discussions on social media over the past few days. People on social media mocked Ghalibaf’s absurd claims of supporting the poor and republished his fake and fraudulent list of assets and wealth, which he had presented during the presidential election race in 2017.

Some people have even said that men like him, and their families, have no need to travel abroad to buy something at all when they could easily order the goods instead. They have concluded that the whole story of the baby-stuff purchase was a diversion to hide something much bigger, like the regime’s money launderings, in which regime officials, like Ghalibaf, have a first-hand experience.

Addressing such an issue requires other evidence and documents. That is not the purpose of this text but examining the reasons for such a widespread social reaction is certainly worth investigating.

One of the most ingrained commonalities among the regime’s officials is their unimaginable charlatanism, a distinctive characteristic that they have inherited from the regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini.

In contrast, one of the characteristics of Iran’s vibrant society is its instant reaction to the regime’s actions. While the people have reached the end of their tether, nothing is left in the socio-economic and political sphere of this country that is broadcast and does not excite society’s reaction.

Now, if we add to the two characteristics mentioned above a little from the elixir of ‘freedom,’ which is the result of people’s restricted access to the internet, we gain something strange.

In a situation where all the regime’s media are censored, this little access to the free world of information, which is finding a way out through thousands of the regime’s barriers, filters, and the narrow internet bandwidth, is increasingly disgracing the regime and exposes the depth of its corruption.

Now, we can understand why the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the regime’s officials are doing everything they can to implement the so-called ‘internet protection plan’,’ because any revelation of the regime’s corruption and crime becomes a direct threat to the regime.

The overwhelming majority of Iranians have experienced this regime with flesh and blood, but it has taken a lot of time and many sacrifices for them to reach such a position.

This has become even more dangerous for the regime as many of its supporters are turning away and questioning the entire system, especially since many people are struggling to survive, and cannot even afford a loaf of bread, while most of the regime’s major officials live in luxury and opulence.

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