Written by Mansoureh Galestan
A glance at Iran’s state media in the last few days shows the depth of people’s livelihood problems and the regime’s fear of their reaction.
On December 19, the Iranian regime finally acknowledged that the Covid-19 Omicron variant had entered the country. The arrival of this variant will certainly add to the increasing Covid-19 death toll, which is rapidly approaching half a million according to the Iranian opposition.
Meanwhile, the state-run Eghtesad-e Pouya, on December 19, acknowledged the skyrocketing prices of healthcare, particularly medications.
“The rising inflation and skyrocketing healthcare prices and its related products have increased the poverty line in Iran,” Eghtesad-e Pouya wrote. “The situation has reached a point… that experts warn about acute and chronic physical and phycological diseases in society due to the daily increase of prices of medication and healthcare.”
“The people’s declining purchasing power has now led to malnutrition, and thus, various physical, mental, and psychological diseases related to the lack of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals are dominating society. We could see this in the rising death toll and poverty,” Eghtesad-e Pouya adds.
While Iranians can hardly make their ends meet, the regime officials receive astronomical salaries.
“According to published reports, the [officials receive] monthly salary of 284 million tomans and 184 million tomans while employees receive 3 million Tomans,” wrote the state-run Jomhuri-e Eslami on December 19.
Jomhuri-e Eslami acknowledges that “We know that up to 10% of [soceiety] receive super-astronomical salaries, and the other 90% are below the poverty line. Now, economists consider the poverty line in our country to be 10 million Tomans.”
The increasing poverty of Iranians amid systematic nepotism in Iran under the mullahs’ regime was also highlighted by the state-run Arman daily on December 11.
“Reports and statistics indicate people’s harsh living conditions. But the situation is even worse for poor Iranian families. Poverty now hurts people to the bone, and this is a serious issue. If the government does not take necessary measurements, people will be crushed under the high living costs,” Arman daily wrote.
There is a false notion that sanctions are the main reason for Iran’s increasing poverty, and the fate of Iran’s economy is tied to the nuclear talks. The state-run Jahan-e Sanat debunked this issue on December 12.
“Not all Iranians consider the nuclear talks in Vienna to have any impact on social and economic problems and improve them. A significant percentage of people living in poverty do not care about the negotiations,” Jahan-e Sanat wrote. “People believe that previous negotiations did not change their lives, nor on the country’s economy. In fact, the inflation has been increasing daily.”
The major Iran protests in 2018, which erupted due to economic woes three years after the nuclear agreement, confirmed that Iran’s economic crisis does not originate from sanctions.
Jahan-e Sanat daily acknowledges that “inflation and skyrocketing prices have crushed people, and they are unable to tolerate more pressure. So, why would a family that can hardly win its bread care about the Vienna talks?”
The Iranian people consider the regime as the real source of their problems. They witness how regime officials and their relatives receive astronomical salaries and live luxurious lives while people are living in absolute poverty. As a result, protests across Iran have increased, promising another nationwide uprising.
The prospect of another uprising has terrified regime officials and prompted state media to warn officials.
In this regard, Jomhuri-e Eslami wrote: “Our society might look calm, but there is something under the society’s skin that is very dangerous. If people lose their patience, there will be a disaster. As [the regime’s founder Ruhollah] Khomeini said, ‘there would be an explosion that leaves nothing behind.’ In other words, if there will be a revolution, it would be the revolution of poor people against the [ruling] oligarchy. If the current situation continues, this revolution inadvertently emerges.”
This article was first published by ncr-iran
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