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Iran’s Government Unable To Create Even One Million Jobs

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran’s Government Unable To Create Even One Million Jobs

In the latest meeting of Iran’s Supreme Employment Council, the main resolution that was approved was the creation of 1.85 million new jobs until the spring of 2023.

This resolution is facing skepticism in the government because many government economists say that the government does not have the opportunities for such a decision according to the country’s economic situation.

One thing adding to this skepticism is that over the past two years because of the expansion of the coronavirus, while Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in the world, according to the government’s statistics more than two million jobs have been lost.

Over the past decade, about 54 percent of the jobs in the country belong to the service sector, and this sector was the worst hit because of the coronavirus. The tourism and service sectors are not working properly, and most of the stores and supermarkets are facing lower visits because of the coronavirus protocols. Thus, most of the jobs that have been lost belong to the service sector.

Not having an acceptable vaccine outcome, this situation is getting worse without any progress, while many of Iran’s healthcare officials are warning the government about the sixth peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts expect some of these jobs to start again if the coronavirus crisis ends, but this has nothing to do with the government’s claim about the creation of about 2 million jobs, and it is strange but not unexpected from Iran’s government to use these numbers for its success of the creation of 2 million jobs.

The government is not able to create 2 million jobs, because they do not have the facilities, equipment, tools, and fields, and space in the country, according to Hamid Haj Esmaili, a market expert.

The reason for this is clear: in the tenth government, they tried it without any success. Therefore, they cannot claim that the previous government has created even one million jobs each year, to use it as an indicator for the success of the new government, and over the past decade, this did not happen in Iran at all.

The calculation about jobs created and lost shows exactly that the government was not able to create even one million jobs. In addition, the increasing number of people under the poverty line and the migration are other indicators of this reality.

The other question is with which capital will the government realize this. This is while the country is facing a huge budget deficit, and in the budget of this year nothing has been considered as the fund for job creation, and most of the budget’s destinations are not clear.

Accordingly, there is no budget to be invested in construction work, nor any investment to create employment.

The second important subject that should be considered for job creation is foreign investment. For a country like Iran, this reality is undeniable that without foreign investment they are not able to create jobs. Due to the regime’s policies, this is impossible in the coming decade.

The sanctions and the regime’s refusal to accept the condition of the FATF have made international money transfer for the regime impossible, therefore no one can make any investment in the country’s economy. Something that could be used but is not possible too is the use of the country’s private sector because in Iran there is no real private sector, and the only thing that exists is the so-called ‘government-run private sector,’ which is not in favor of the country’s economic interests.

The other two subjects that are making such a thing impossible are the imbalance of the banks which is one of the causes of the increasing inflation and the liquidity which has reached an unbelievable number. Something that is happening due to the regime’s wrong economic policies and a brokerage system that has created uncontrollable corruption.

Troubling Statistics on Malnutrition in Iran

Hoshang Amiri
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Troubling Statistics on Malnutrition in Iran

Today in all nations, especially industrial and developed societies, human resources are playing an important role, and are referred to as the “Development Factor”. In this factor, elites play the most important role, something that is not in the interest of Iran’s government, which is wasting and destroying this most important value of the country.

Therefore, both the rate of depression and the lack of proper nutrition are skyrocketing in the country. The most important factor to fight these two damages is the enjoyment of any person to provide a proper livelihood, which in Iran due to the high costs and inflation has become a dream.

It has been announced by the country’s official statistics that the consumption of protein and dairy products is lower than half of the world’s standards. The high costs and reduced purchasing power of people have caused demand for Iranian groceries to fall by 30 to 35 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Earlier, there was news that the people of Iran due to their financial inability are forced to pay with credit for the goods, even for commodities with low prices, something that indicates the dire situation of the people.

At the same time, the latest statistics provided by the Central Bank show that the poverty line in the country has reached 11 million tomans ($400), and accordingly, it can be concluded that the majority of people live below the poverty line and have the least access to food and proteins.

The state-run website Tejarat News on September 22, 2021, quoted the head of the Dietetic Association as saying that people’s food security is severely damaged and that people could no longer afford the standard calories they needed per day.

This media outlet went on to point out the prices of some of the essential items of people’s daily lives, which have been removed from the household nutrition basket due to expensiveness, such as:

“Beans that in August 2021 compared to last year has increased more than 50 percent, Iranian rice about 42 percent, pasta more than 20 percent and bread more than 50 percent.”

In the end, this report pointed out that, “Although the head of the Iranian Nutrition Association recommends that people should replace cheaper food with expensive food, some people do not even have the economic power to replace them.”

Zahra Abdollahi, director-general of the Nutrition Improvement Office of Iran’s Ministry of Health, in an interview with the state-run news agency ILNA, while trying to hide the regime’s responsibility for the starvation of the people, on October 9, 2021, said:

“Rising food prices all together have increased the risk of food insecurity in the country, especially in low-income and poor deciles. Currently, there is concern that, given the above-mentioned cases, i.e., drought and economic conditions, conditions in low-income provinces will worsen and food insecurity will increase.”

A progressive country means educating people who can manage the country’s future. A man who must constantly care about his/her livelihood will definitely do not care about the country’s future.

About this concerning situation and the country’s future the lawmaker of Khomein Shahr in an interview with the state-run website Eghtesad-24 said:

“Imam Ali says that if oppression is done, it will cause that the people do not tolerate the rule anymore. The implementation of justice shows its manifestations in this material supply and is perceptible. If the masses feel deprived of the most basic facilities that will contribute to their physical health, they will not tolerate the rulers, certainly.” (State-run website Eghtesad-24, November 3, 2021)

Iranian Oil Tanker Seized by IRGC Who Blame US for Trying To ‘Steal’ the Vessel

Esmaeil Mohades
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Iranian Oil Tanker Seized by IRGC Who Blame US for Trying To ‘Steal’ the Vessel

According to Iranian state media on November 4, the supposed theft of an Iranian oil tanker in the Sea of Oman was blocked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy. Reports claimed that the United States navy was attempting to steal the vessel, which has been vehemently rejected by the Pentagon.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby gave a statement saying, “I’ve seen the Iranian claims. They are absolutely totally false and untrue. It’s a bogus claim.”

The regime, in fact, had seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in October. Two U.S. Navy ships, backed by air support, had monitored the situation but did not try to prevent the vessel. The vessel is identified as ‘Southys’.

A report on the Tanker Trackers website indicated that the vessel was attempting to make a delivery of 700,000 barrels of crude oil to China, but the shipment was rejected. As a result, Southys was forced to return to Iran, dropping anchor off the coast of Bandar Abbas, before later being relocated to the Strait of Hormuz.

Since the regime has not paid the price of its regional adventurism and nuclear extortion, it continues its malign activities. Why does Tehran take the risk of creating an international fiasco which could lead to a standoff rather than attempting to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)?

The state-run Aftab-e Yazd daily wrote in their November 2 publication that if the Iranian regime return to the JCPOA, then the U.S. and other signatories would not be limited to the terms of the current deal. If the regime chooses to leave the JCPOA, then they must start negotiations all over again with countries that may wish to extend nuclear discussions to other issues. Whatever the decision is that Tehran makes will likely end in a standoff.

It should be noted that Iran’s state-TV broadcasted the entire attack on the oil tanker to somehow boost the morale of the regime’s forces.

This latest ploy by the regime comes at a time where Iran is suffering from crisis after crisis. Iran’s economy has practically collapsed, the Covid-19 pandemic is ravaging the country and society is becoming more restive as the crises worsen daily. Protests are commonplace across the country, with dozens taking place every day and the situation is so intense that the regime is fearing another uprising akin to the one in November 2019, if not worse.

The Mostaghel daily wrote on October 30 that, “The political system in Iran has been facing the crises of political legitimacy, economic efficiency, and structural corruption for many years.”

Warnings of endangerment to state security were issued by the Aftab-e Yazd daily on October 31 who said with the number of people in Iran living in poverty and unable to provide for their families, tensions will only worsen and with nothing to lose, people may resort to violence.

The western powers should not concede to the regime’s extortion campaign. Such provocative actions, which destabilized international peace and security, should not be left unanswered. The regime should be held accountable, and this is the only way to end its malign activities.

Harming Iranian People’s Interests, the Result of Khamenei’s ‘Look to the East’

Pooya Stone
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Harming Iranian People’s Interests, the Result of Khamenei’s ‘Look to the East’

Ardeshir Dadras, the head of the Iranian Compressed Gas Association (CNG), announced on November 2 that Iran, according to an agreement with Russia, has no right to withdraw from eight gas wells in the Caspian Sea. Although this statement was rejected by Kazem Jalali, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, international observers said that the reaction of the regime’s ambassador to Moscow is due to the reaction of the Iranian people on the internet and social media.

In an interview with ILNA, Dadras stated that according to the agreement between the Iranian and Russian governments, Iran has no right to extract gas from the Caspian Sea’s gas resources as long as Iran’s gas balance is positive and domestic production meets consumption.

Dadres added, therefore, that we should think about the gas resources of the Caspian Sea at this time. Dadres attributed this to the agreement between the Iranian and Russian governments that Iran’s government is not allowed to increase Iran’s gas reserves to a level higher than Russia’s gas reserves.

Russia currently has 18.1 percent of the world’s gas reserves, and Iran’s share of the world’s gas reserves is 17.9 percent.

According to the Dadres, if the Iranian government withdraws from the Caspian Sea gas reserves, Iran’s share of world gas reserves will increase to 18.2%, which according to Dadres is contrary to the agreements that the Iranian government has already made with Russia.

The news of Iran’s ban on gas extraction from eight gas wells in the Caspian Sea, which is located in the waters of Iran, provoked many negative reactions among social media users.

While condemning this act and diminishing Iran’s interest in gas extraction, Iranian citizens cited the incompetence of Iranian government officials as the reason for the ban on gas extraction from wells in the Caspian Sea, and many of them attributed this to Russia’s expanding dominance over Iranian resources.

In the past, the division of the Caspian Sea water area in recent years had caused widespread criticism among Iranian society and on social networks.

Jalali reacted to Dadres’ remarks on Tuesday, November 2, stating that ‘this has not been the case during the more than 1.5 years he has been Iran’s ambassador to Russia.’ He described Dadres’ statement as ‘influential to Iran-Russia relations.’

Despite all the regime’s rejection which was expected and something usual by the regime, the state-run daily previously about this agreement wrote:

“Last week, Iran unveiled a large gas field in the country’s waters in the Caspian Sea, the Oil Price website reported. The Chalus gas field is to be constructed with the aim of creating a new gas pole in northern Iran to complement the country’s gas south pole with the focus of the massive South Pars field.

“The main developer of the Chalus gas field is Khazar Oil Company (KEPCO), but technical and financial assistance is also received from Russia and China.

“If initial estimates of gas reserves in the Chalous field are correct, Iranian gas will be able to supply at least 20 percent of Europe’s gas requirements. However, the number of exports, prices, and destinations of this gas is aligned with Russia, adding to Moscow’s dominance of Europe in energy, which is now one of the main themes of the dispute between Europe and its NATO partner, the United States.

“According to the author of the analysis, the reason Iran accepted this terrible change in its share of the spoils of the Caspian Sea was that it was negotiating a 25-year deal with China at the time, including a major important agreement with Russia.

“The deal with Russia was a legal necessity for a 25-year contract with China. For example, the deal allows Russian and Chinese aircraft and ships to use shared sites throughout Iran. It was added to existing multi-layered, 10-year agreements that Iran had signed with Russia until then.” (Bourse News, August 23, 2021)

The ’25-year agreement with China’ and the ’20-year agreement with Russia’ are the result of the regime’s policy of ‘looking to the East’. With the excuses such as benefiting from becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is, in fact, to have the opportunity of a veto in the UN Security Council if its nuclear case becomes worse and facing inclusion under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter.

Iran: Mother and Daughter Denied Prison Leave, Despite Ongoing Medical Issues

Hoshang Amiri
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Iran: Mother and Daughter Denied Prison Leave, Despite Ongoing Medical Issues

Two women’s rights activists, Yasaman Aryani and her mother, Monireh Arabshahi are being deprived of receiving prison leave despite Monireh needing ongoing medical care. The women were sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for their opposition to the Iranian regime’s policy of mandatory Hijab wearing.

Farzad Aryani, the husband of Monireh and the father of Yasaman, said, “My wife and daughter have not embezzled any money, nor have they committed murder. They spoke out in the best possible form by presenting flowers [to women on the International Women’s Day.] They must not be deprived of their right to have prison leave.”

Monireh and Yasaman were initially arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned at Qarchak Prison in Tehran. In August 2019, the women were transferred to the notorious Evin Prison, before later being sent to exile in Kachouii Prison in Karaj in October 2020.

Farzad Aryani, Yasaman’s father, posted an audio recording on social media, in which he said, Why the rights of prisoners, including my wife and daughter, are not observed?

Monireh Arabshahi first fell ill in December 2020, suffering from a swollen throat and having trouble breathing. Doctors at the prison recommended that she needed to go to the hospital to have her thyroid glands scanned to assess the situation, but this was denied by prison authorities.

Eventually, she was granted a medical leave at the beginning of May 2021 after paying a bail of 500 million Tomans. Following a thyroid gland operation, she was returned to Kachouii Prison on July 23, before being sent back to the hospital the following week after her health deteriorated but was forced to return to prison without receiving treatment.

A further medical leave was granted on August 4 until October for ongoing treatment, at which point she was once again summoned back to prison without fully completing her course of treatment.

Efforts to obtain prison leave for Yasaman Aryani to attend to her sick mother did not lead anywhere.

The Iranian regime has often resorted to the method of torturing political prisoners by depriving them of desperately needed medical treatment. This method has worsened in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, where prisoners infected with the virus have been left unattended in contaminated sub-standard quarantine areas.

In Farzad Aryani’s audio recording he explained how in the past two years and seven months, his wife had only been granted a few days of medical leave to undergo her thyroid surgery, as did his daughter who needed dental surgery. He told how Monireh and Yasaman were both told by prison authorities that they did not deserve to have prison leave because of the fact that they were activists.

He said, “Political prisoners are imprisoned for expressing their views or defending people’s rights. Even prisoners detained on drug-related and murder charges enjoy prison leave. However, prison authorities do not allow [political prisoners] to enjoy their right to have prison leave.”

The JCPOA a Non-Maneuverable Trap

Mehdi Hosseini
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The JCPOA a Non-Maneuverable Trap

In recent days, the positions and actions of the Western countries who are parties involved in the international nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, show that the situation for the regime has become more critical.

The G20 summit ended with a heavy shadow of ambiguity putting its burden on the fate of the JCPOA. The Western powers are witnessing that the regime with its actions is playing for time, and there is no outlook to return to the negotiations.

Thus, the tone of their officials has changed, and even Russia’s officials who the regime considers as its allies are mocking the regime’s position.

After some new sanctions against the regime’s drone systems, now US President Joe Biden is warning the regime that they will respond to the regime’s drone attacks, relying on all options on the table.

Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, along with the United States, stated on the sidelines of the G20 summit, warning that the regime’s actions would only mean building a nuclear bomb.

Stressing that the regime should come to the negotiating table, they emphasized that other destructive actions of the regime should be addressed in the negotiations, in addition to the nuclear issue.

Seyed Jalal Sadatian, the regime’s former ambassador to London, warned: “In the statement of the four countries, their positions are becoming closer and this dangerous for the system.”

In parallel to this statement, strategic bombers of the US army flew over the Persian Gulf close to the regime’s borders and in a maneuver.

The regime has no way out and must accept the demands of the world powers who are demanding to put the regime’s missile and regional activities on the table, or it will face harsher reactions, analysts say. This has become more critical for the regime because no one is trusting the regime anymore and time is running out for the regime.

The state-run daily Mostaghel on November 2, 2021, in an article entitled ‘The Inconclusive JCPOA’ wrote: “It seems that the future of the JCPOA remains unclear, and everything is ambiguous.

“Iran has announced that it will return to negotiations before the end of November, but U.S. officials are looking at the matter with skepticism. Sources in Washington told CNN that talks are underway to increase pressure on Iran under the Biden administration as Iran moves closer to building a nuclear weapon.

“Despite the willingness of the U.S. and Iranian sides to continue negotiations, the future of the JCPOA seems to remain unclear and everything is in an aura of ambiguity.”

Hidden dangers are what other state-run media in Iran are warning about. The state-run daily Siasat-e-Rooz on November 1, 2021, wrote:

“The agreement that the United States and Europe are seeking is an agreement that will force Iran to trade on its missile advances and capabilities and reduce the influence in the region. Such a thing would actually disarm (the system).”

Mostaghel daily warned that the regime was facing a dangerous future and wrote:

“The nuclear program has become the first embankment beyond its cost-sized nature. In other words, it has become the first stronghold, which if conquered by the enemy, will lead to the fall of other strongholds. They see the next strongholds as regional roles, weapons capacities, human rights and even the existence of a system called the Islamic Republic.” (State-run daily Mostaghel, November 1, 2021)

Meanwhile, the state-run daily Setareh-e-Sobh introduced the regime’s dreams of becoming a nuclear power as the main barrier to the progress and wrote:

“The Islamic Republic has stated several times that it does not want to build an atomic bomb, but at the same time a large portion of Iran’s power, wealth, and assets have been spent on developing nuclear energy over the past years. It seems that if the Islamic Republic does not even want to build a nuclear bomb to strengthen its defensive or military position in the region or for its negotiations with the West and its diplomatic dealings, it is willing to potentially have the possibility of building a nuclear bomb.”

There are much more examples about the critical situation of the regime written by its media, and the result is that this time the regime must decide between worse and the worst.

Continuing Trend of Human Rights Violations at the Hands of Iran’s Rule

Sia Rajabi
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Continuing Trend of Human Rights Violations at the Hands of Iran’s Rule

Throughout the month of October, the Iranian regime kept up with their continuing trend of executions in their prisons, along with the forceful pressure on political prisoners. Reports have also indicated that security forces have arbitrarily opened fire on citizens in several cases, leading to many being severely injured or killed.

Human rights violations are sadly commonplace where the mullahs’ regime is concerned. From violations of the right to life to the right to freedom of speech, and including the rights of religious minorities and the conditions of political prisoners, many offenses have taken place during the past month.

At least 27 death penalties were carried out in various Iranian prisons during October 2021. 12 victims were convicted of drug-related charges and another 13, including a woman, were charged with murder.

In the Iranian Kurdistan province at the Revolutionary Court of Saqqez, Kayvan Rahimi was sentenced to four months behind bars after being charged with promoting ‘propaganda against the state’ because of his social media activities.

On October 19, 2021, the Interrogations Office of Evin Courthouse in Tehran arraigned three Christian citizens, Mr. Joseph Shahbazian, Ms. Somayyeh (Sonia) Sadeq, and Ms. Mina Khajavi Qomi, of their charges.

The three individuals were also charged with circulating propaganda against the state. The reason was that they were accused of running a Zionist network and establishing a Zionist house church.

In further violations of the rights of religious minorities, three Sunni political prisoners, Mohiyeddin Ebrahimi, Mohiyeddin Tazehwared, and Davoud Jabbari, were transferred to an unknown location by prison authorities from the Central Prison of Urmia in the West Azerbaijan province. Ebrahimi and Tazehwared previously attempted to appeal their death sentences.

The Iranian regime increased pressure on political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and detained human rights activists. In some cases, prison authorities hired violent prisoners and dangerous convicts to beat up and brutalize political prisoners.

In several cases, authorities have gone as far as to file false charges against political prisoners, completely violating their rights. As a result, many prisoners have resorted to going on hunger strikes to obtain their rights. Khaled Pirzadeh, a political prisoner detained at the Shaiban Prison in Ahvaz, has been on a hunger strike since August 23 in protest of the prison authorities’ refusal to honor his conditional release agreement after already serving two-thirds of his sentence. He is also protesting the violent treatment that his family has been subjected to by security forces.

In a case from October 8, prison authorities at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary hired several dangerous criminals to attack political prisoners Akbar Baqeri, Pouya Qobadi, Shapout Ehsani-rad, Esmail Gerami, and Akbar Shirazi with knives and machetes.

The assailants stabbed Messrs. Baqeri, Qobadi, and Shirazi several times and broke several thermos flasks on their heads. The three victims were transferred to the prison’s dispensary because of severe injuries.

Following the attack, the victims and several other political prisoners were forcibly transferred to another ward in the prison, known as the ‘closed-door ward’ which reportedly has substandard conditions.

On October 20, regime security forces opened fire on three fuel carriers in Sistan and Baluchestan province, killing at least four citizens.

Border patrols opened fire at the point-blank range on Zhiyan Alipour on October 14, 2021, without warning. Mr. Alipour was from a village near Sardasht and married with two children. His brother, Houshmand Alipour, is a political prisoner detained in the Prison of Sanandaj.

Bill To Address Teachers’ Salary Demands Refused by the Iranian Parliament

Hoshang Amiri
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Bill To Address Teachers’ Salary Demands Refused by the Iranian Parliament

In a private session of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) on Sunday, the Iranian regime’s government officials refused to vote on a bill that would adjust the salaries of teachers in Iran, instead, they sent the bill back to the education commission to be revised.

This latest decision follows months of ongoing protests by teachers across Iran. The current salaries for teachers are leaving them living below the poverty line, barely able to provide for their families. The protests have been aimed at the education ministry, as well as other government institutions calling for increased salaries and more job opportunities.

According to MP Alireza Sefidan, member of the education commission, by passing the ranking bill, the regime would have to pay all teachers an extra 30 million rials per month and teachers with a master’s degree with an additional 70 million rials.

The regime’s budget deficit is already 450 trillion rials, and according to the industry, mines, and trade ministry, the regime doesn’t have enough income to fill the 307 trillion rial gap of the proposed salary increase.

This, however, is false as the regime would rather fund their terrorist proxy groups in the Middle East and pour money into developing weapons of mass destruction, rather than provide teachers in Iran, and other sectors of society, with enough money to solve society’s problems.

That of course, would be a hard decision for a regime that has built its power on spreading terrorism, violence, and Islamic fundamentalism across the region and repressing any form of dissent through arrests, torture, and executions.

Teachers in Iran have been protesting since last year, but the regime still refuses to address their demands. The latest series of demonstrations began in early September, just before the start of the new academic year. Among the demands are that the ‘80 percent ranking plan’ should be implemented. This plan ensures that teachers will receive at least 80% of the wages that faculty members receive so that they’re all receiving equal salaries.

The regime’s continued disregard for the needs of teachers and its repressive response to their demonstrations has gradually skewed their demands and rallies into political protests.

Along with the teachers’ protests, other segments of Iranian society have been holding protests to fight for their rights despite the severe repression and the regime’s disregard for the demands of Iranian citizens across the country.

Even the regime’s state-run media have warned of the potential consequences if the regime continues to avoid addressing the problems that need to be solved.

The Mostaghel newspaper wrote last month that considering the wave of protests across Iran ‘in response to livelihood and living conditions problems across the country’, the crises will not be overcome by the government simply using ‘band-aid responses and keeping the lid on the main demands’.

The article also read, “The security apparatus tries to stop the protests through pressure, but so long as livelihood problems are not solved, we will continue to see these protest rallies.”

Money Printing and Lies by Iran Government

Pooya Stone
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Money Printing and Lies by Iran Government

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has announced that his government will not be seeking to increase liquidity in the country and the country’s monetary base will not be increased. And he will decrease the budget deficit and inflation.

The question here is, how will Raisi do this?

Simply said, liquidity is the demand of the people from the government or the government’s debt to the people, so the higher the value, the higher the government’s debt to the people. Liquidity covers the following:

  • Banknotes or coins
  • Savings or bank credits (visual deposits)
  • Government budget deficit that leads to loans from the Central Bank
  • Banks’ debt to the Central Bank

Since under clerical rule, the country’s production has been destroyed and its national wealth has been spent on the export of terrorism and its anti-national missile and nuclear projects and since the sanctions imposed on the regime due to these policies have closed the ways of earning money for the country, the regime is faced with a huge budget deficit.

For this reason, to compensate for this loss, the regime is forced to rely on fiat money which has been injected into the country’s market. This action has increased the demand in the market and while the prices of the commodities in the market have been balanced with the dollar, this fiat money is losing its worth constantly against the dollar and the price of the commodities is increasing. Therefore, the increase of liquidity is increasing inflation.

The created liquidity and the lack of economic growth will ultimately put its burden on prices. It is currently emptying the people’s livelihood baskets.

The question is, in which hands is this liquidity?

An expert from the regime’s Economic Research Center of Parliament said: “90% of the country’s liquidity is in form of bank deposits, and 90% of these bank deposits are in the hands of 2% of depositors.”

This means that Iran’s state media are incorrect to claim that only 2 percent of the country’s population are controlling the wealth in the country; rather, only 2 percent of the country’s “depositors” are controlling 80 percent of the money in the country, which are the regime’s officials, their children, and affiliates.

Raisi claims that he has been able to solve economic issues and salaries during his time at work without printing money or increasing the monetary base.

Raisi made this allegation, while he in his previous remarks he had said: “Some governments have declared the treasury is empty. If I say in what situation the treasury was, they might say that you are starting the job by complaining.”

Indeed, while the treasury of the country is empty and the situation of the country’s economy is dramatic, the first question that has been raised is, with the help of what magic has Raisi been able to solve the economic obstacles and move the country forward?

That’s in a situation where the regime has lost at least 70 percent of its oil export and is facing a budget deficit of about $946 billion, which means a budget deficit of 50 percent.

Of course, another way to finance the budget deficit is to release fiscal papers. The regime’s economic ministry said that the government instead of borrowing from the Central Bank was able to earn $640 million from selling fiscal papers.

But how long will the regime be able to do this? Next year, the government must pay back the profits of these bonds, and the question is, from which sources will they do it?

The consequence will be an increase in people’s poverty, according to analysts. The release of fiscal papers helps the government postpone its debt to the future, but it is also a crisis for the government, which is facing a super economic crisis.

The release of fiscal papers is tantamount to ‘future selling’, hostage-taking of Iran’s economy, and passing current problems to future generations.

The situation is so critical that even the state-run media are questioning Raisi’s decisions.

“While government officials point to non-borrowing as their most important achievement, a survey of the central bank’s recent report shows that the government has continued to move towards banks so that the daily decline in the number of interbank transactions and the mild slope of interest rates in the interbank market indicate that the level of surplus reserves of banks in the interbank market has been accompanied by a sharp decline. That’s the result of the government’s fiscal behavior.

“As a result, the government has withdrawn from the banks’ resources to finance its costs instead of borrowing from the Central Bank, which because of withdrawing over the specified ceiling, the banks have no reserves with the Central Bank.

“Therefore, as a result, there is no difference in the whole story, and the Central Bank has no choice but to create money to provide overdrives and conversions.” (State-run daily Arman, October 23, 2021)

Trying to hide this disaster, the government’s economic experts have confessed that all the financial statements of the banks are fake.

Corrupt Government Harshly Punishes the Poor and Deprived While Plundering Iran’s Assets

Hoshang Amiri
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Corrupt Government Harshly Punishes the Poor and Deprived While Plundering Iran’s Assets

In Qom province in central Iran, the Iranian regime’s judiciary has recently sentenced a father of three to 40 lashes and 10 months in prison because he stole three packets of cashew nuts. The cruel sentencing for such a minor crime has caused outrage among Iranian society and the case has gone viral on social media.

The court sentence was issued at a time when trillions of rials from the Iranian people’s property is being looted daily by regime officials and government-linked entities. All the while, the regime’s judiciary is doing nothing.

According to downsized government statistics that the state-run Bahar News website published on October 25, 40 million Iranians need assistance to help provide for their families. From these statistics, this equates to nearly 500 people falling below the absolute poverty line in Iran every hour.

An article on the Asr-e Iran website stated that “more than a third of Iranians live not in poverty, but in absolute poverty…the number of people living below the absolute poverty line a year ago was 26 million.” According to updated figures, a further 4 million have joined them in the past year bringing the total now to 30 million.”

The state-run Shargh daily said, “When the facilities necessary for a dignified and developing lifestyle cannot be provided, and employment is scarce, adequate food and treatment will become the dreams of vulnerable families.”

The current widespread poverty and the fact that a large part of the population is below the absolute poverty line is the flip coin of the astronomical fortunes of regime officials, and institutions linked to the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who controls a large part of the country’s economy.

In an interview in 2014, the Deputy Minister of Economy under then-president Mohammad Khatami, Mohsen Safaei Farahani voiced his concerns over the regime’s corruption. He explained that there are around 120 different institutions linked to the regime or Khamenei and they control about 50% of Iran’s GDP. He also said, regarding the institutions, entities, and foundations, that “there is absolutely no proper control over their performance.”

Most of the institutions and foundations that contribute to this institutionalized plundering are linked to Khamenei, such as the IRGC, the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam (SETAD), (referred to by the U. S. Treasury Department as The Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, ‘EIKO’), and other such entities.

The SETAD, despite being part of the non-government public sector, plays one of the biggest roles in terms of plundering the country’s assets. Its influence and sheer dominance over Iran’s economy reportedly surpass that of the IRGC.

These institutions are plundering the mere property of poor Iranians while the regime brutally oppresses the people’s slightest social and economic demands. This is how the mullahs’ regime defines justice.

The regime is the ones who have left Iranian society living in horrible conditions and instead of helping those in need, they would rather harshly punish the deprived and the poor who must resort to stealing to feed their children.

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