Iranian state-run media is now warning that if the regime fails to respond to the people’s legitimate and reasonable demands, then protests are certain and regime overthrow is increasingly likely.
The Ebtekar daily wrote Tuesday, January 19: “The society’s outrage is slowly building up. And we can’t predict what will happen when this hatred explodes. But what we know for sure is that this piled-up hatred will one day explode and can turn into a massive blow [to the regime].”
So, what makes the people so angry? Well, aside from the seemingly deliberate mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the violent suppression of peaceful protests, the economic situation is dire and just keeps getting worse. Some 80% of the country are living in poverty, whilst unemployment and unpaid wages are just a common part of life.
To give just one example, Construction Engineering Organization head Ahmad Khorram visited Qom this week and reported that 250,000 Iranian engineers are unemployed, while a further 300,000 don’t have proper housing. These are educated people with degrees ranging from bachelor to doctorate, who cover the seven engineering fields, but the regime has done nothing to help them get work and most are either unemployed or working outside their fields, including as taxi drivers. And it’s not like the regime doesn’t have many pressing construction projects that require engineers.
If this is happening to those with advanced degrees, how hard must it be for those who were unable to complete their education to this level?
One woman there said: “The water department sells water to this and that city, puts the money in its pocket, and it is not clear where our due is spent. To the officials who say God will not forgive those who steal from the people, the people are widows who have been weaving carpets their entire lives and whose water is being sold to another city! Oh, Lord!! Give us back our rights.”
In a related matter, farmers and their families protested outside the governor’s office in Isfahan on Monday, January 18, to demand that their right to irrigation water be acknowledged and the issue resolved. The problem is that the regime is diverting water and selling it to other locations.
While other protesters chanted: “We are determined to achieve our rights to irrigation water even if we die.”
The following day, farmers in Mahshahr protested the agriculture ban in their lands, holding a banner that read: “The cry of hungry farmers”
