Iran’s poverty line surpasses the 80 million rial mark
Poverty in Iran- A man
searching for food among garbage bags
Reporting by PMOI/MEK
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 embezzlements 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?
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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