By: Struan Stevenson Mojtaba Khamenei inherited the most powerful office in the Islamic Republic. Yet six months into his tenure, a question once considered unthinkable is surfacing in Tehran. When the Supreme Leader speaks, who still listens? For almost five decades, the answer was obvious. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini created a system in which factional warfare could rage beneath the surface, provided everyone ultimately bowed to the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei preserved that arrangement for more than three decades. Presidents came and went. Clerics competed. The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) accumulated power. Yet one principle remained sacrosanct. The Supreme Leader had the final word. Today that principle is under strain. On August 28, Mojtaba Khamenei warned officials against creating false choices between war and negotiation, compromise and confrontation. He urged them to avoid publicizing weaknesses and declared that anything damaging social cohesion was forbidden. The mess...
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Iran’s economy headed for a tough year, according to official stats
Iran’s inflation rate was at 40.2 percent at the end of the Persian calendar year 1400 (ending on March 20), according to the official figures published by the state-run Statistical Centre of Iran. The official rate of inflation for the previous year was 36.4 percent.
This is the third time that the regime is officially reporting the inflation rate to be above 40 percent, the previous occurrences being in 1995 and 2019. It is worth noting that the state-run bodies have a history of underreporting to downplay the regime’s disastrous handling of the economy.
The details of the new report show that the price of food has had an average 52 percent increase year after year, but some food items have had an over-100-percent price hike. Other sectors such as housing and service have also seen a considerable rise in prices.
The information published by the Statistical Centre contradicts other reports, further indicating that the regime is trying to downplay economic problems. For example, according to the report, the price of housing and rent in March 2022 had increased by 27 percent compared with the previous year. However, according to the regime’s own media and Central Bank, in Tehran alone, the price of housing has increased by at least twice that figure.
The average market exchange rate of the rial to the U.S. dollar hovered at around 260,000, which indicates a 13-percent devaluation of the national currency. In the past five years, the rial has lost 80 percent of its value, dropping from around 40,000 rials to the USD to a record low of 300,000.
It is also worth noting that the regime’s so-called plans to control inflation and prices have failed miserably, including the fixed-rate 42,000 rial-to-USD exchange rate, also known as the “preferential currency.” The newly installed government of Ebrahim Raisi claims that it plans to counter corruption and embezzlement by eliminating the preferential currency, but even the regime’s experts are warning that the decision will lead to runaway inflation and price hikes and possibly trigger nationwide protests.
The realities of everyday life in Iran show that the situation is a lot worse than the regime admits. On March 23, the state-run Khabar Online website wrote, “Studies show that price hikes are worse than previously thought. The price of poultry has reached 400,000 rials per kilogram and it is projected to reach 700,000 rials soon.”
For millions of people in Iran, meat has become a luxury that they can’t afford more than a few times a year.
And the situation will deteriorate as the regime goes ahead with implementing the new currency policy. The state-run Eqtesad Online website wrote on March 23, “Every kilogram of lamb meat is being sold at 1.5-1.6 million rials to shop owners, who sell it at around 1.7-1.8 million rials to consumers.”
This article was first published by english.mojahedin
By: Struan Stevenson Mojtaba Khamenei inherited the most powerful office in the Islamic Republic. Yet six months into his tenure, a question once considered unthinkable is surfacing in Tehran. When the Supreme Leader speaks, who still listens? For almost five decades, the answer was obvious. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini created a system in which factional warfare could rage beneath the surface, provided everyone ultimately bowed to the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei preserved that arrangement for more than three decades. Presidents came and went. Clerics competed. The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) accumulated power. Yet one principle remained sacrosanct. The Supreme Leader had the final word. Today that principle is under strain. On August 28, Mojtaba Khamenei warned officials against creating false choices between war and negotiation, compromise and confrontation. He urged them to avoid publicizing weaknesses and declared that anything damaging social cohesion was forbidden. The mess...
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