People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN YouTube channel has published an informative video on the plunder of Iran’s wealth resources, especially oil, due to widespread corruption in the mullahs’ regime.
As follows as is the full video, and excerpt of its text:
In a meeting with a group of clerics in late March, Iranian regime president Ebrahim Raisi claimed that oil exports have reached pre-sanctions level and said, “The country was in a state that some officials said that if anyone manages to sell 200,000 barrels of oil, we will appoint him as the oil minister. But today, oil sales have returned to the levels before the sanctions and the revenue from oil sales is returning to the country.”
Reflecting on the ongoing negotiations in Vienna over the regime’s nuclear program, Raisi said, “We absolutely won’t tie the people’s lives and the economy to the [nuclear deal] and negotiations. Whether the negotiations reach a conclusion or not, we have our own plans to run the economy.”
It is worth noting, however, that on March 19, Oil Minister Javad Owji had given a different assessment. “In parliament, lawmakers decided to raise the ceiling of exports of oil and condensates from 1.2 million barrels (per day) to 1.4 million barrels.
But on April 1, Owji told the regime’s state-run television that oil production had reached more than 3.8 million barrels per day and confirmed that the regime had increased oil sales despite sanctions still being in place.
Some reports indicate that the regime is shipping its oil in vessels flying the flags of other countries, though most of it is going to China at prices lower than the market.
Second, the regime is benefiting from the growing price of oil due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. And at the same time, the Revolutionary Guards and its proxies in the region are conducting missile and drone attacks against oil facilities in neighboring countries to affect oil markets.
But all of this begs many questions: if the regime has in fact managed to increase its oil sales in 2021 and bring the money home, why has the price of food increased by an average 52 percent? Why has inflation increased to 40.2 percent according to the regime’s own Statistical Center? Why is the government planning to increase the price of gasoline to cover its budget deficit? Why is the regime removing subsidies from medicine? Why is the regime refraining from increasing the wages of teachers despite months of nationwide protests?
On the other hand, the regime has increased its terrorist activities in the region, the development of its ballistic missiles and underground missile facilities, its development of nuclear weapons, and the bolstering of its security and censorship apparatus, instead of investing the added revenues in the economy and improving the welfare of the Iranian people.
Indeed, the regime continues to ship weapons, drones, and missiles to terrorist groups in the region to wage war and destabilize the region.
All of this proves once again that the regime prioritizes its hold on power over anything else, including the livelihoods of more than 80 million people living in Iran, 60 million of whom are living under the poverty line.
Raisi was right on one thing in his remarks: The people’s lives and Iran’s economy are not tied to the nuclear negotiations, nuclear deal, or the lifting of sanctions. The situation will only improve when the mullahs’ regime is overthrown and replaced with a democratic state.
Read more: https://english.mojahedin.org/article/if-irans-oil-revenue-increasing-why-is-the-economy-tanking/
