Iran’s poverty line surpasses the 80 million
rial mark
Poverty in Iran- A man searching for food among garbage bags
Iran, October 9, 2019—State-run media outlets reported on Tuesday, October 8, that the country’s food basket, or more commonly known as the poverty line, has surpassed the 80 million rial mark (equal to around $690 according to the street exchange rates).
According to these reports, the baseline paycheck of most workers in Iran was approved at 15 million rials per month by the regime’s High Council of Labor back in March 2019. Back then, Iranian regime officials claimed they had raised workers’ wages to half the poverty line. In less than six months, however, this amount dropped to less than one-fifth of the poverty line index and the people’s purchasing power decreased at a similar rate.
And to further plunder the Iranian people from their share of the country’s wealth, the Iranian regime has decreased the average number of members in each family from four to 3.3. Based on these numbers, the average amount of money allocated to each individual in line with the standard food basket actually increases from 100,428 rials to 215,327 per month. This artificial 100% increase is a method to deceive the Iranian public.
All the while, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the mullahs’ president Hassan Rouhani have time and again in their speeches talked about controlling the status quo and the inflation rate. Based on this monthly status report, however, the increase in the price of daily goods, parallel to a significant decrease in the people’s purchasing power, has constantly continued from March to September of this year, and the pace remains steadfast as we speak. As a result, poverty and hunger are on the rise across Iran.
It has become common knowledge amongst Iranians that the mullahs’ regime provides for its budget deficits through increasing the costs of goods and imposing even further pressure on the Iranian people. All the while, more reports surface of regime officials and insiders resorting to embezzlement cases skyrocketing into the millions and even billions of dollars.
This includes the October 6 case of Alireza Bigi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), acknowledging the plundering of $27 billion dollars and 60 tons gold by members of the regime’s own factions.
With the purchasing power of most Iranians standing at merely one-fifth of the poverty line, there is no doubt that the mullahs’ regime will be facing more challenges from the “army of hungry people” across the country.
In a July article, Keyhan, the news outlet that reflects the views of the Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, acknowledged the country's unsolvable housing crisis. "A person who could live in an 80-meter house with an 800-million-rial bond and 4-million-rial monthly rent last year must pay 12 million rials to rent the same house this year," Keyhan wrote on July 1.
You might have heard claims that if the mullahs were to be overthrown, #Iran would experience chaos, disasters and destitution. But aren’t Iranian women living in conditions even worse than war-torn countries? Aren’t they suffering from poverty, unemployment and homelessness?
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The housing problem has become so critical that some of Iran's people have foregone buying or renting homes and have resorted to living in tents.
The state-run Resalat newspaper wrote on July 2, "More than 40 percent of the Iranian population is under the line of poverty. The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer. The tax system is in total service of the rich. The banking system has put 70 percent of its wealth into the hands of 2.5 percent of the society."
Abrar-e Eqtesadi newspaper wrote on July 3, "The price of some food items has increased by 300 percent."
Ironically, before coming to Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs' regime, had promised to build homes and give free water, electricity, and transportation to Iranians. However, after 40 years, his regime has only achieved poverty and misery for the people of Iran.
At the end of 2017, people in more than 140 cities across Iran poured into the streets despite the heavy presence of security forces and the regime's brutal suppressive measures. Many of them were fed up with the corruption and mismanagement of regime officials, which has driven their lives into poverty, inflation, and unemployment.
The protests, which continue to this day, blame the regime and its destructive domestic and foreign policies for the current economic conditions in Iran.
The protesters are regularly chanting:
"Let go of Syria, think about us!"
"One less embezzlement and our problems will be solved"
"Death to dictator"
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