Four decades after the Iranian regime came to power following the Iranian revolution in 1979, the mullahs are dealing with ‘super challenges’ with the economy in ruins, the mounting international pressure and the increasing public hatred.
The Iranian state media are continuing to warn regime officials of another imminent uprising as the frustrations over socio-economic problems are at boiling point.
The Mardom Salarie daily wrote on December 7 that food poverty is rife across the country, and that the meagre incomes that the Iranian people are receiving is not enough to purchase enough food to feed them and their families.
They said, “People have become poorer, and certain individuals have monopolized the country’s small amount of national production.”
Published on the same day, the Sharq daily’s piece stated the inequality in society is excluding many people, causing them psychological harm and threatens to stir public anger and dissatisfaction.
In reference to the rising nepotism in Iran, the Sharq wrote, “Inequality stratifies society and creates deep gaps between social classes. In systems where economic inequality is more than usual, neither freedom nor democracy will form.”
They discussed the fact that Iran has experienced severe double-digit inflation in the past decade, up to as high as 40 percent, leaving to widening class differences and many people falling below the poverty line.
Warning regime officials about the consequences of the current socio-economic problems caused by the regime’s mismanagement and corruption, the Sharq said, “Officials should find a solution to decrease the social difference. Because the society cannot tolerate this deep inequality and its persistence would result in tons of problems.”
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “For decades, the Iranian regime and its state-run media tried to deceive Iranians by giving hollow promises or by playing a game of ‘moderation’ and ‘reformism’. Outlets like Sharq were tasked to promote such a false notion among people.”
The first round of major protests in Iran began in 2018. Iranians across the country chanted, “reformist, hardliner, the game is over” as they vented their frustrations at the regime and how they were no longer willing to stand for their false promises.
Sharq daily described the protests as the ‘reformism’s apocalypse’, stating how the ‘violent, yet determined’ force of society had ended the decades of the regime’s games of reformism.
They explained that, “From now on, the starting point of any democratic project is to eliminate the conditions that have disgraced the decent poor,” and that protests to achieve basic rights these days automatically goes to calls of ‘seeking justice and demanding equality’.
The state-run Mostaghel daily warned that the volume of protests may increase if the needs of society are not met by regime officials, and the violence in those protests may also escalate.
They said, “On the one hand, people are in hardship and cannot make their ends meet. So, they are forced to come to the streets to protest. Naturally, the system can tolerate these protests to some extent or control them, but the control of the protests may be lost to the relevant authorities.”
