Uniting for Freedom, Democracy & Equality

 “poverty ”

Poverty-Stricken Iranians Forced to Sell Their Organs to Make Ends Meet

While the majority of Iranians live below the poverty line and even sell their hearts due to extreme poverty, corrupt mullahs have a luxurious life for themselves.
While the majority of Iranians live below the poverty line and even sell their hearts due to extreme poverty, corrupt mullahs have a luxurious life for themselves.

As October 17 marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, many countries around the world are taking steps to help the vulnerable people in their societies in order to reach this goal. On the other hand, the levels of poverty are so severe in Iran that its citizens are selling their body parts and vital organs to cover expenses and provide much needed money for their families.

Last year, the story of a 29-year-old father who wanted to sell his heart went viral on social media. The man had advertised the sale of his heart for one billion tomans (about $367,000), so that he could ensure that his family would be supported financially for the future.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “Selling body parts is not new in Iran. Walls across the country are covered with advertisements of people offering their organs, even vital ones such as bone marrow, heart, and cornea.”

The Iranian Resistance outlined in a report published in 2019 that both men and women resort to selling their organs as a last resort. Those wishing to sell their kidney are generally between 22 and 34 years of age, but some older people have also offered their organs on the black-market also.

While the Iranian regime continue to waste Iran’s resources to fund their malign activities, more and more Iranian people are falling deeper into poverty on a daily basis.

The NCRI said, “The poverty line in Iran varies from 10 to 15 million tomans. Meanwhile, the salary base of the Iranian workers and employees is around four million tomans.”

The state-run Donyay-e Eghtesad media outlet said on October 4 that between 2012 and 2019, 4 million people have fell into poverty, with the rise of the poverty line increasing from 6.4% to more than 12%.

Despite the Iranian regime being responsible for the rising inflation rates and the dire economic situation in Iran, regime officials have tried to blame the skyrocketing prices on the increase of salaries this year. Whilst there was a 39% increase in peoples’ salaries, this amount barely covers 37% of the living costs of Iranians, leaving workers barely able to make ends meet until the end of the month.

The NCRI said, “The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17 was signed in 1987 when a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris to honor the victims of extreme poverty, violence, and hunger.”

The purpose of the day of observance is to acknowledged that poverty is a violation of human rights and urge countries around the world to come together and ensure that these rights are respected where their own citizens are concerned. Since 1987, many governments have used the day to continue with their commitments to eradicate poverty and provide help and support for those in need.

The regime, however, have yet to take any steps to assist Iranians in their struggles. People are committing suicide as they see no other way out, or they are forced to scrounge for food in garbage bins, or sell their body parts to raise much needed funds to support themselves and their families.

As the level of poverty deepens in Iran, the more society’s restiveness is increased. In the past two years, major uprisings have taken place and with the current crises, another one may be on the horizon.

The NCRI said, “There are ongoing protests in Iran by people from all walks of life. Thus, the people’s hatred toward the regime increases parallel to poverty in Iran, and it’s upon the global community to preserve the status quo or help to change it.”

Share

Iran: People’s Poverty a Result of Sanctions or Plundering by Corrupt Mullahs and IRGC Terrorists?

The miserable living and economic situation of the Iranian people is so bad that these days it is the subject of a choir of confession in the state media and the regime’s experts. But when it comes to the causes of this issue, at least within Iran’s executive system, the root of the problem is sought outside the mullahs’ regime, and specifically sanctions. The regime’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has said many times that whatever you could, shout at the White House.

But what is the reality and how much of the problems of the Iranian people are due to sanctions, and if there were no sanctions, would the Iranian people not have economic problems? Before these sanctions, would the Iranian people have lived in luxury?

The issue of the sanctions has become so controversial that the regime’s officials have repeatedly admitted that the main problem is internal and resulting from plundering, because theft and looting is a special feature of the mullahs’ regime.

In the current situation, before the regime’s presidential election, revelations about people’s poverty and state corruption are two issues which have escalated. And internal factions expose each other’s thefts every day and shed crocodile tears for the people.

For example, the statement of the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, caused a scandal by exposing years of astronomical thefts and corruption.

In a dispute with Hassan Rouhani, he acknowledged blatant theft of the annual budget, saying, “Our budget structure is flawed. You see, this year the budget structure is the same as we recorded in the budget bill, which means that the gap between the increase in revenues is 46%, i.e. expenses, revenues are 10%, i.e. 36%” (Khabar TV, 24 January 2021).

Qalibaf sheds crocodile tears for the people in a situation where one of his deputies named Issa Sharifi has been sentenced to 20 years in prison these days, but why?

The state-run Khabar Fori website wrote on 24 January 2021: “Issa Sharifi was sentenced by a court.”

The question is, what did this Issa Sharifi, who was one of Qalibaf puppets, do?

He stole 5,000 billion, but only paid 480 billion tomans, which means that less than 10% of what was stolen was taken from him.

Some 90% of the looted money remains in the hands of the same thief, although that 10% went from one thief to another too.

Issa Sharifi was Qalibaf’s deputy for 16 years and has been one of Khamenei‘s IRGC air force chiefs for many years.

The 5 trillion tomans that he has stolen is equal to the salaries of 2.5 million workers who receive a monthly salary of 2 million tomans.

These days when Qalibaf is boasting about the increase in people’s subsidies, the theft of only one of his deputies is equal to the one-year subsidy of 9.26 million people receiving subsidies from Iran.

But really, how much of the misery of the Iranian people is due to the theft and taking of people’s property by the mullahs’ regime, and if we add up these thefts, how much of the economic problems that the people are facing would be solved?

Is it true that 70% of economic problems are caused by so-called mismanagement? And if it is real, what is its percentage?

These questions remain unanswered in the regime, but the reality is that the cause of all the economic problems of the people is due to the plunder of wealth of the Iranian people by regime officials.

The issue of mismanagement, which is raised in the gang war, is to deprive the integrity of the government of looting and plunder of resources and property of the Iranian people.

When talking about the regime’s actions in the economic, social, security and other fields, the use of terms such as mismanagement and misconduct reduces the burden of the predatory and criminal actions of the leaders of this regime.

This regime, in its entirety and with all its factions, gangs and all its ministries, is involved in looting and plundering the property of the people like a mafia.

To get a small picture of the looting of people’s property by the leaders and members of this system, it is necessary to point out some of the embezzlements and thefts that have been revealed so far.

During the factional feuding and the war on the looting of people’s property in recent years, the media of both factions exposed a corner of the thefts and embezzlements of the leaders and members of the government.

What has become media about these embezzlements. The sum of these embezzlements since 1992 amounts to 30.167 billion dollars.

Naturally, this level of embezzlement is part of what has been looted from the property of the people for more than 40 years and stolen from the pockets of the Iranian people.

Akbar Turkan, a former deputy oil minister, admitted that when oil prices rose, the ninth and tenth governments’ oil revenues reached $531 billion.

The media admitted that in 2017 alone, Rouhani sold more than $40 billion in oil.

None of this money was spent on the people. It was spent on both terrorism and the mullahs’ proxy groups in the region and in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, or it flowed into the pockets of the rulers and the mullahs and their children.

In many of these embezzlements, Khamenei’s institutions, and specifically the Revolutionary Guards and the regime’s leaders, were involved.

Share

Iran: On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 80% of Iranians Live Below the Poverty Line

For the first time in 1993, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating October 17 as World Poverty Eradication Day. On this day, it’s crucial to remember Iran, where over 80% of the population live below the poverty line.

Since 1993, poverty reduction has been a task for governments. After that, Governments were required to adopt appropriate strategies to eradicate poverty. Some developing countries, including Singapore, Tajikistan, Indonesia, and Tanzania, have taken adequate measures to fight poverty and enrich their families.

Iran on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Meanwhile, Iran under the mullahs’ rule, despite significant economic resources, national wealth, ancient history and culture, with increasingly destructive economic policies and plunder of national wealth, caused increasing poverty.

Poverty and deprivation statistics in Iran society

Unfortunately, under the mullahs’ corrupted regime, on the eve of World Poverty Eradication Day, we are witnessing an increase in poverty and deprivation in Iranian society, including:

  • More than 80% of people are below the poverty line.
  • 38 million people are living in shantytowns,
  • 7 million child laborers
  • 3 million female head of household
  • 14 million addicts
  • 13 suicide per day. More than 70% of suicides are due to poverty

People of Iran cannot afford food under the rule of mullahs

While the Iranian regime spends Iran’s wealth on the export of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, the Iranian people struggle with poverty. In addition, they cannot afford even minimum food for their families. Also, many of the Iranian people (80%+ according to media) are under the poverty line. 

That is to say, yet the mullahs blame sanctions for the economic crisis in Iran. Still, they do not mention why the inner circle of the Iranian regime’s officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and others, are getting richer and invest billions of dollars in WMDs and terrorism in the region.

What is the Solution?

As a result, the situation of economic catastrophe and the widespread poverty of the people are direct resulted of  the mullahs’ corrupt rule. So, what is the solution? Solving Iran’s economic crisis and eradicating poverty from people’s lives can only be achieved through regime change and the establishment of freedom, democracy, and justice. Regime change and establishing the democratic rule lead to the people’s real participation in the country’s economy and the necessary stability for significant investments. 

As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: All the promises by the mullahs to the deprived and calamity-stricken people of Iran are hollow and worthless. The only way to end poverty, destitution, and unemployment is to end the mullahs’ evil dictatorship and establish freedom and people’s sovereignty.

Share

Wealth Accumulation of the IRGC’s Khatam-Al Anbiya Construction Headquarters and the Extreme Poverty of the Iranian People

Acquisition of private companies under pressure by the IRGC

Any company in the private sector, if it remains now in Iran, will have to deal with the projects of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Khatam al-Anbiya garrison, and be under the supervision and control of the IRGC. If it disagrees on a matter, it will face the fate of Oriental Oil.

Oriental Oil Company was transferred to Khatam al-Anbia Construction Garrison in 2006 with all of its equipment and capital. The company’s assets were valued at $90 million. A year earlier, the CEO of this private company was “prosecuted” under pressure from the IRGC to merge with the Khamenei‘s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters under the judiciary order.

Billions of dollars in profits of the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarter, without paying taxes!

Khatam al-Anbiya headquarter does not pay taxes, despite all the enumerated assets it has plundered from the Iranian people’s wealth and all other cases of encroachment whose names are not even mentioned in this article. The IRGC has not only refused to pay a single rial in taxes for billions of dollars in revenue until 2016, but it does not report on its economic activities to the Iranian people, the parliament, and the government. Instead, it has a budget line beyond all executive, educational, industrial, and military sectors, and this budget is increasing every year.

In August 2017, the IRGC Fars News Agency wrote in a report: “Khatam al-Anbiya has completed 2,500 provincial and national projects since its inception.” That means an average of 90 annual projects, which are the country’s most significant economic projects, gifted to the Khatam-al Anbiya!

Carrying out free projects in other countries by the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya

The vast dimensions of Mullahs’ regime payment for the IRGC without audit are such that it has enabled the IRGC to carry out free projects for fore different partners of the regime in the region or around the globe.

The IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Yazdi, The Deputy of Legal Affairs of the IRGC in Parliament, announced in 2011: “The scope of activities of the Khatam al-Anbiya construction garrison is not limited to Iran. The purpose of the Khatam’s presence in those countries is not for profit, but it is about exporting the revolution. Many of these countries have not yet been able to meet their obligations. And they owe it to the government and Khatam al-Anbiya construction garrison,” he continued, “But this body has fulfilled most of its obligations in the contracting countries, and they are satisfied!”

Sanction of the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters

In May 2010, the United States imposed sanctions on Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters, its subsidiaries, and the then commander, Rostam Ghasemi. On June 9 of that year, the UN Security Council issued resolutions imposing sanctions on Makin, Rahab, Fatir, and the Consulting Engineers and 40 other companies and institutions of Khatam-al Anbiya.

There is a keyword in Iran, “sanctions businessmen” the reality about this keyword is that the expansion of the Khatam al-Anbiya to more sources, even though the Khatam al-Anbiya is under sanctions, however, it has benefited from the sanctions!

How did this happen?

Large multinational companies left the Iranian market due to the US sanctions, either imposed during the tenure of Mahmood Ahmadinejad, or the new round of sanctions after the US withdrawal from 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers.

In the meantime, and in the absence of alternatives in the private sector, this time, it was the IRGC‘s Khatam al-Anbiya that undertook part-time projects, received a huge budget, and made an enormous profit it. While other economic sectors are within the paralyzed economic system, this body will continue to operate.

In April 2010, Turkish companies refused to continue the third phase of the South Pars oil and gas field development project. The $7 billion projects without participating in any auctions, was handed over to the Khatam al-Anbiya.

In May 2010, Rostam Ghasemi, then-commander of the Khatam base, announced: “The Revolutionary Guards will replace Shell and Total companies in South Pars.”

With the announcement of the withdrawal of the “Spanish company Repsol” from operating in the South Pars oil and gas field in June 2010, this $5 billion project was handed over to Khatam al-Anbia without participating in any auctions.

On March 19, 2017, the regime’s “News Network” television reported that only one of the sources of the Khatam al-Anbiya, the Persian Gulf oil refinery, was receiving $60 million a day, which is a huge profit for the IRGC.

Iran’s wealth in the hands of the IRGC and Khamenei and more than nine deciles of the Iranian people below the poverty line

Everyone is shocked when only tiny aspects of the IRGC’s domination on Iran’s economy that have been mediated are revealed.

The point that we should not forget after the unlimited plundering of Iranian wealth by the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya is that all this money flows from the public wealth of the Iranian people into the pockets of the IRGC and the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. They spend this money for funding their warmongering polices across the region. However, according to the regime’s media, with a basic salary of nearly 2 million tomans, while the poverty line in Iran has reached 10 million tomans, more than nine deciles of Iranians live below the poverty line.

Share

Iranians People’s Poverty Causes Protests Across Iran

As poverty rages across Iran and people are struggling to afford the basics, with over 70% of the country unable to cover a third of their expenses, more protests against the regime have sprung up.

On October 5, 2020, nurses from hospitals in Urmia gathered outside the governor’s office to protest a several-month-long delay in their paychecks. They called for the “special nursing bonus” to be paid, and urge the Ministry of Health to look at their living conditions.

The protesters said: “We want to put an end to discrimination in our contracts.”

On October 4, 2020, health care workers in Tehran held a rally outside the parliament building over a lack of job security. In addition, they demand the changing of their employment classification, and job status remaining in limbo.

On October 3, 2020, retired steel factory workers and their relatives protested outside the Interior Ministry building in Tehran. They demand that officials address the issue of their delayed salaries.

Meanwhile, in Tehran, Telecommunications Company workers, specifically those from the SHASCOM and TCI1 companies, protested outside the Ministry of Communications. Also, they are seeking classification of their specific jobs to ensure just salaries.

They chanted: “Telecommunications Company, shame on you, pay attention to our rights.”

While in Ahvaz, Ramin power plant workers continued their protest over job security and the transfer of the company to the private sector, with 49% of the company shares currently held by a private investor. The 950 workers say that this is putting their job security at risk.

In Isfahan, state hospital nurses gathered outside the Isfahan Medical Sciences University to demand their overtime work pay. In addition, they demand their special nursing bonus, an end to discrimination, and a change to their employment status.

It’s the economy

The statistics surrounding the economy are based on the “food basket” rate set by the regime in February. Basically, the poverty line is set at 49.4 million rials (about $357) per month and anyone who earns below that cannot afford to live.

Since then, the cost of the basics increased by 32% and the people have seen the cost of food increase by 4.9 million rials per month. However, wages have yet to be raised and the regime blames the coronavirus and anything else that they can do.

The Iranian Resistance wrote: “In a situation where paycheck raises are completely ignored, this already deprived sector of Iran’s society is facing even more pains and sufferings.”

Share

Kurdish porters in Iran under the hammer and anvil of poverty and bullets

Kurdish porters in Iran under the hammer and anvil of poverty and bullets

By Daniel Mahdavi

The tough economic situation caused by the mismanagement and corruption of the mullahs’ rule have put the Iranian people in dire straits.

While regime officials invest billions of dollars in luxury cars and luxury villas in good areas of Iran and their children’s studies abroad, the people of Iran’s Kurdish region, who are under extreme poverty and discrimination by the mullahs’ regime, have turned to porting.

Porting, a tragic story of fight for bread and life

Porters are mainly people from the border regions of Iran who have turned to one of the most difficult and dangerous ways of earning a living, namely cargo transportation on their back on mountainous roads, one of the most primitive means of transport.

Most of the porters are belonging to the western and northwestern provinces of Iran.

Porting is a way of earning money in the provinces of Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, Ilam.

But porting has also become a common job in the Sistan and Baluchestan, the southwestern reaches of Iran mostly inhabited by the Baluchi minority.

Porters in the border areas of the Kurdish provinces of Iran face many problems for their livelihoods.

Impassable mountain roads, danger of falling, frostbite, falling in avalanches and shooting by border guards and the Revolutionary Guards corps (IRGC) are among the dangers that the Kurdish porters, who live mostly in deprived areas, face on a daily basis.

When the Kurdish porters leave the house for work, they have no hope of returning. Their lives become a choice between dying of starvation or earning a loaf of bread in the harshest possible way.

In Kurdistan, it is not only men porting, but also youth such as young girls are porting. Every day, their lives are endangered not only by the regime’s trigger-happy border guards, but also by minefields, road accidents falling down of mountain or falling in the snow in the winter.

According to various reports, during the first six months of this year, from March 21, 2019 to September 22, at least 121 Kurdish porters were killed or wounded in various areas of Kurdistan.


From these victims, 84 percent of them were killed by the direct fire of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) border guards.

Statistics confirm that Iranian border guards killed 27 Kurdish porters and wounded 77 others by direct fire during this period.

Three of the Kurdish porters who were killed by direct fire by Iranian forces were under 18 years of age.

Dozens of porters have been killed in recent years due to economic problems.

The highest number of Kurdish porters who were killed or injured is from the West of Azerbaijan, with 23 dead and 60 injured.

However, some regime officials have previously acknowledged that the volume of smuggled goods imported by porters is relatively small compared to other sources. In fact, the Revolutionary Guards run the largest smuggling campaign in Iran, and the amount of money and goods they cross over the borders of Iran dwarfs the meager amounts that porters carry on their bent backs to make ends meet.

The reality is that the suffering of the Iranian people will not end unless the Iranian regime is overthrown.

As long as the regime rules Iran, the wealth of the Iranian people will be spent on terrorism and war in the region like Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.

So, the solution to the problems of Iranian people and Iranian ethnic minorities that have been discriminated against by this regime is only possible with the overthrow of the mullahs.

Share

MEK Resistance Units: Iranian People Will Bring Ali Khamenei to Justice

Iran: MEK Resistance Units Activities Across the Country — November 2021
Iran: MEK Resistance Units Activities Across the Country — November 2021

November 23, 2021—On the second anniversary of the November 2019 protests, Resistance Units across Iran continued to commemorate the nationwide uprising and pledge to continue the path of more than 1,500 martyrs who laid down their lives for freedom in Iran.

Resistance Units are a network of activists who support the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Thorough their activities, the Resistance Units play an important role in countering the environment of suppression caused by the regime’s security forces.

Throughout the week, Iranian Resistance Units in different cities posted messages of Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, honoring the memory of murdered protesters and pledging to continue the struggle for regime change and freedom.

Tehran— “Iranian youths! Join the PMOI/MEK Resistance Units”
Tehran— “From 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising, the Nov. uprising is continuing”
Tehran— “Hail to martyrs of the Nov. 2019 uprising. Mullahs! We hate you. Let go of the country. We have nothing but poverty, misery, disease, earthquake, floods that you brought to this country. Get out of the country. Get lost.”
Tehran— “We are seeking justice from 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Tehran— “We honor the memory of the Nov. 2019 uprising martyrs.”
Tehran— “We are seeking justice from 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Shahriar— “1,500 protesters were killed during the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Karaj— “We are seeking justice from 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Karaj— “1,500 protesters were killed during the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Mashhad— “from 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising, uprising will continue. Down with Khamenei and Raisi”
Mashhad— “The Nov. 2019 uprising continues”
Mashhad— “The overthrow of the regime is certain”
Mashhad— “We can, and we must free our occupied nation through rebellion and uprising”
Mashhad— “In the name of the Nov. 2019 uprising martyrs. Uprisings will continue. Khamenei! We will bring you to justice”
Mashhad— “We must rise to take back our legitimate rights through unity”
Mashhad— “We must rise to take back our legitimate rights through unity
Arak— “We honor the second anniversary of the Nov. 2019 uprising martyrs, and we will continue their path. We neither forgive nor forget the crime. We demand justice for the victims. Viva Rajavi.”
Isfahan— “We are seeking justice from 1988 massacre to the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Ahvaz— “Hail to the martyrs of the Nov. 2019 uprising”
Neyshabur— “Your [Iranian people] uprising is the perseverance of a nation that will not live in disgrace”
Neyshabur— “Honor the memory of the Nov. 2019 uprising martyrs.”
Neyshabur— “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for freedom”
Gilan— “Down with Khamenei, Raisi, and damn Khomeini. Hail to the Nov. 2019 uprising martyrs. Uprising continues. We are ready to overthrow the mullahs.”
Zahedan— “the Nov. 2019 uprising continues. Hail to martyrs of the uprising. Down with Khamenei, viva freedom, down with the dictator.”
Tehran— “Down with Khamenei, we will make another Nov. uprising”
Ahvaz— Amol— “Down with Khamenei”
Amol— “Down with the rule of mullahs”

Share

British MPs Support Iranians Protesting for Water Rights and Condemn Regime’s Crackdown

Iran, Isfahan Uprising — British MPs Support Iranians Protesting for Water Rights and Condemn Regime’s Crackdown
Iran, Isfahan Uprising — British MPs Support Iranians Protesting for Water Rights and Condemn Regime’s Crackdown

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), issued a statement in support of the Iranian protesters’ demands in Isfahan, condemning their repression by the Iranian regime.

The full text of this statement is as follows:

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) strongly condemns the regime in Iran for its brutal crackdown and attack on the nationwide protests over water shortages and stands in solidarity with the people and farmers in Isfahan and other cities and provinces across Iran who are demanding their right to water.

These recent protests over water shortage is gaining momentum each day all across the country turning into major popular protests against the regime and its repression, destructive policies and plundering of natural resources.

Two weeks ago in Isfahan, farmers launched a sit-in in the completely dry bed of the Zayandeh-Rood river. The water has been deviated by the authorities to fuel the steel plant of regime officials, and the nuclear and military plants of its repressive forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Similar protests erupted soon in Shahrekod.

The regime, however, answered once again with violence ordering its security forces to crush the protests and threaten the peaceful demonstrators with arrests.

Every human being has the right to freely access water. It is fundamental to human dignity and to life itself. The Iranian people have systematically been deprived of water and clean air in addition to their most fundamental rights and freedom, including the freedom of assembly and the right to protest. The Supreme Leader, Khamenei, and the IRGC are primarily responsible for the destruction of Iran’s environment, the domestic repression as well as for the rooted poverty and unemployment.

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) urges the UK government, the EU and the UN to condemn the regime’s crackdown on protesters and impose sanctions against the regime and its leaders for destroying the environment and suppressing the people who are claiming their most basic rights.

Prof. Lord Alton of Liverpool

British Committee for Iran Freedom

26 November 2021

Share

Iranian Expert Warns That Another Uprising Is on the Horizon

Iran protests in November 2019 (File photo)
Iran protests in November 2019 (File photo)

Two years ago this month, nationwide protests turned into one of the largest uprisings in Iran’s history. From a sudden increase in gas prices, people took to the streets to protest their frustrations, before the demands became political mere hours later with protesters calling for regime change. On the verge of collapse, the Iranian regime brutally cracked down on the protesters to stop the unrest, murdering over 1,500 peaceful protesters in the process, and detaining thousands more.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “Yet, the “bitter nightmare” of another uprising by “an unknown generation” haunts the regime. In a matter of days and sparking a broader crackdown that would see countless activists tortured over a period of several months.”

On November 16, the state-run Sharq daily ran a publication featuring an interview with Iranian sociologist, Dr. Asef Bayat about the November 2019 uprising and its effects on society.

The Sharq daily described Dr Bayat’s classification of a new social class that has emerged in Iran. A cross between the middle-class poor and the urban poor class, the new middle-poor class ‘consists of educated but poor people, aware of their poverty’.

Dr. Bayat explained how economic factors seemed to have played an important role during the protests, ‘but the political rationale was more critical’.

He said, “People feel that their will is not reflected in the country’s management and that the government is in the process of realizing its own ideas, which has little to do with the demands and expectations of the citizens. These grievances include domestic as well as foreign policy and international relations, especially in the region.”

Dr. Bayat highlighted that among the protesters, people from each social sector claimed their own demands, for example, farmers focused on water shortages, workers demanded delayed wages, while poor people demanded decent employment and security, and defrauded creditors demanding the repayments of their life savings.

He said, “In my view, this turning point was so important because the government’s responsibility for creating the current failures and crises became the common discourse of the protesters with different social backgrounds.”

The NCRI said, “According to Iran’s state media, the population of Iranian poor has tripled in recent years in Iran, while the unemployment rate, inflation, and prices are skyrocketing daily. Thus, more people are becoming poor.”

Dr. Bayat warned that the protests in November 2019 could have been a warning to regime officials to adjust their policies and find solutions to the economic and social problems, but instead they chose to increase their oppressive measures because of the fear of their potential loss of power.

The NCRI said, “Nearly half of the Iranian population are youths under the age of 30. This generation has experienced nothing but social and economic pressures under the mullahs’ regime. This generation has proven to be a threat to the regime’s existence by forming the majority of Iranian protesters during the mass uprising in 2018 and 2019.”

These days, the Iranian youth are awakening and joining the Resistance Units to fight against the oppressive regime and their theocratic rule over society. All they want is a free, peaceful, democratic Iran that will be safer place for future generations.

Share

Iran: Despite Promises from the Raisi Administration, No Economic Improvements Have Been Made

More Iranian people are seen searching in trash for things to sell and make ends meet
More Iranian people are seen searching in trash for things to sell and make ends meet

With the dire state of the economy in Iran worsening day by day, more Iranian people are forced to search through piles of trash for items that they can sell to earn money to make ends meet and provide for their families.

When the Iranian regime’s President, Ebrahim Raisi and his administration came to power back in August, they promised to boost the country’s economy and reduce the livelihood and socio-economic problems faced by Iranian citizens.

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) said, “State media, however, while quoting the Regime Statistics Center and official government numbers, are reporting that the claims made by Raisi and members of the cabinet are wrong, and not only has the country’s economy and people’s livelihood not improved but inflation and commodity prices have risen.”

The state-run Etemad daily reported on November 14 that the increase of food and beverage prices from October 2020 to October 2021 was 61.4 percent, putting it in a ‘hyperinflation’ state which has crossed the limits of normal inflation.

The immense inflation rates have meant that, according to the Mostaghel daily in their November 16 report, “Very high cost of food and supplies, astronomical rents rate, travel costs, skyrocketing health care costs, … all are imposing enormous pressure on the middle class.”

The MEK said, “The economic situation is so dire that the regime, even through its own official statistics, is forced to acknowledge that conditions are now beyond the crisis.”

According to the Etemad daily in their November 14 report, despite Raisi’s cabinet’s promises, the daily increase of prices of basic goods within their first 100 days in office does not show that they have any improvements. Prices are set to skyrocket again as the preferential exchange rate is due to eliminated, leaving those below the poverty line extremely vulnerable.

For the poor and vulnerable citizens of Iran, the situation has reached the point that the quality of food obtained is no longer important, just as long as they can get enough to satisfy their daily needs. More and more members of society are falling way below the poverty line and are desperately struggling to make it out alive.

The MEK said, “The root of this situation is clear, even according to government experts, being institutionalized and structural corruption. As such, every economic project and plan in Iran, despite the quantity and quality, becomes a source for rent and looting by government officials.”

Member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), Mohsen Zanganeh stated in a report on the Eghtesad website that the distribution of around $55 billion based on the preferential exchange rate did not reduce prices, but instead caused ‘many cases of rent and economic corruption’.

Prices would have not skyrocketed throughout Iran as they did if the money was instead spent on buying basic goods for the Iranian people. Instead, the money was stolen by government-affiliated rent-seekers and imported goods were sold at many times higher than they should have been.

The MEK said, “Therefore, the economic road ahead for the mullahs’ regime will lead to a dead-end and escalating social tensions that bear dangerous potentials for the regime’s future. This undeniable reality has kept many senior regime officials awake at night.”

Share