Iran’s poverty line surpasses the 80 million rial mark

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.

Maryam Rajavi

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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"

A look at child labor in Iran

A look at child labor in Iran

Children gathering trash in Iran in order to sell and make ends meet

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, September 26, 2019—The new school year in Iran began on September 23. At this time of the year across the globe, scenes of children rushing to schools, smiling and laughing, bring joy not only to their parents, but also to those wishing to provide the very best for their country’s future generation.

In Iran under the mullahs’ regime, however, the right to education, considered one of the main fundamental rights of children throughout the world by UNICEF, is becoming an unattainable dream.

Based on numbers published by state-run media in Iran, the number of children involved child labor is increasing and those actually in schools are unfortunately decreasing with each passing year. More children are joining the “army” of child labor, selling goods and roaming the streets of large cities checkered across Iran.

Despite the fact that regime officials go the distance in publishing doctored reports to place the blame of this social catastrophe on any source but the regime, the footprints of this phenomenon can be traced back to its actual cause through remarks made by authorities.

The main reason lies in the unprecedented and ever-increasing poverty that is spreading across Iran like a plague resulting from the regime’s unpopular policies that are plundering the Iranian people. Millions of families are in such dire conditions that they literally cannot even adequately feed their children, let alone provide for the fees of sending their children to school.

As a result, Iran’s younger generation, the future of this country, have no choice but to roam the streets and work in dangerous workshops in a desperate attempt to help their families make ends meet.

“Currently, there are 3.5 million children out of school across the country,” said Hafizollah Fazeli, a regime insider, to the Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force.

The state-run Hamdeli newspaper acknowledged the fact that economic poverty is one of the main reasons of families not being able to send their children to school.

“The economic poverty engulfing families is creating a major obstacle in advancing education. One of the most important results is children forced into labor outside of their houses, preventing them from going to school,” the September 22 piece reads in part.

While carefully avoiding any mention of the role of regime officials on this matter, the Hamdeli article sheds light on the fact that the cost of public education is becoming a heavy burden for Iranian families.

“Education is becoming more of a purchased good these days than a service and this is the most important reason why children drop out of schools and enter the labor force… Education is now considered a purchased good and is provided only if a family has the ability to purchase it… As a result, only those affording the costs will be able to have access to education,” the read adds.

All the while, the main concern of this and other state-run outlets lies not in the fact that Iran’s children are deprived of education. In fact, they consider this phenomenon a “time bomb” threatening the regime’s security. Regime officials are concerned about poverty evolving into a source of dissent and social unrest.

“The truth is that children who drop out of schools have the potential of acting as a time bomb that can explode any day and any moment. Such an explosion that can not only destroy themselves, but also inflict damage to others and the society,” the Hamdeli piece concludes, reflecting the dire concerns of the ruling regime in Iran.

Furthermore, incompetent officials in the regime’s Education Ministry and associated department in provinces and cities across the country on one hand, and allocating a very dismal budget for one of the most important ministries on the other are adding to this crisis and resulting in more children dropping out of schools.

When the Education Ministry refuses to provide paychecks to hardworking Iranian teachers and has neglected the issue of a shortage in classrooms for 40 years now, it is quite obvious that the mullahs’ regime is neither able nor willing to prevent the catastrophe of young children dropping out of schools.

All the while, daily reports are published in Iranian media of regime officials running off stealing millions, and at times billions of dollars, while tens of millions of people are barely providing a single meal for their families.

There is no doubt that with each passing day public hatred of the mullahs’ regime is escalating as we speak. All dilemmas in Iran under the mullahs’ regime can only be resolved by targeting the root of these crises, being the very regime ruling this country for over four decades now.

Daily protests and demonstrations, and repeating anti-regime protests, are a signal of how the Iranian people have realized this undeniable reality and are joining the organized resistance bent on bringing an end to the mullahs’ corrupt rule.

Iran: Inflation and corruption are two sides of the same coin

Iran: Inflation and corruption are two sides of the same coin

Corruption and skyrocketing inflation are hallmarks of the regime ruling Iran

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, July 29, 2019 - While Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani expressed his optimism for Iran’s economy in a cabinet meeting on July 23 and his first deputy, Eshaq Jahangiri, claimed that the mullahs have overcome the economic crisis and reached the shores of stability, Iranian media announced the next day that inflation has crossed the 40 percent threshold.

Iranian state-run media reported on July 24 that inflation is 40.4 percent. “The government is the main culprit for increasing prices because by changing the price of the U.S. dollars that are used to import meat from 42,000 rials to more than 80,000 rials, they’ve created the conditions for increasing prices in the market,” they wrote citing Tehran’s pundits.

Mohammad Gholi Youssefi, an Iranian economic pundit close to the regime, says “the government’s aimlessness in organizing the country’s economy… has put us in a crisis riddled situation and implementing any decision is rendered very difficult and results in negative consequences.”

“Managerial inefficiencies and the inability of officials and concerned people to organize the country’s economic situation has led to an increase in poverty across the country. Economic pressure on the people is mounting every day,” he further said.

Tabnak website, close to Mohsen Rezaee, former Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) chief and current secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, also weighed in on this matter. “It was supposed that electronic coupons are distributed among the people to support them. The issue has been studied for months and there is still no result. Or it was supposed that monetary subsidies are increased but that didn’t happen either,” he writes.

Tabnak’s article then concludes: “These issues lead to the gradual increase of the impact of rising currency prices in Iran’s consumer market.”

Vahid Shaghaghi, an Iranian economic pundit, says that considering that inflation has crossed the 40 percent mark, the current process will lead to a “50 percent inflation” over the next four to five months.

Jihad Azour, director of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, predicts that in light of increasing sanctions imposed on Iran, the country’s inflation rate will rise further to 50 percent this year.

“While sanctions waivers for buying oil from Iran are not extended and U.S. sanctions against Iran are increased, we predict that inflation in Iran will increase to more than 50 percent this year. It means an increase in living costs and consumer goods prices,” he said.

The Iran newspaper, Rouhani’s official mouthpiece, implicates the IRGC for economic failures by accusing this entity of running illegal financial institutions. “Monetary policies are not the unique mandate of the government anymore, and illegal monetary institutions have reached a point where they manage about 25 percent of the country’s total liquidity without accepting any supervision by the central bank. Appeasing this illegal institution is resulting in their corruption spreading over even to banks. This has brought an about huge financial crisis upon the government.”

Iran: How foreign currency at state-set rates are embezzled

Iran: How foreign currency at state-set rates are embezzled

Corruption is running rampant in Iran under the mullahs’ regime

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, July 26, 2019 - In Iran, the U.S. dollar is traded at two completely different rates: The state-set rate and the true rate set by the market. The state-set rate is at about 42,000 Iranian rials while the fluctuating real price of U.S. dollars set by the market is three times that amount, somewhere between 120,000 to 140,000 rials.

Traditionally, the purpose of this setup is to provide cheap foreign currency to importers of essential goods and services such as food and medicine, or raw materials that help Iranian factories produce at competitive prices. The dollars that are sold to the “private sector” at the low rate are covered with the foreign currency Iran receives through its crude oil sales. In a way, this should act as a type of government subsidy for essential goods and services, helping the Iranian economy to thrive.

However, to no one’s surprise that is not what actually takes place.

There are many institutions and individuals among the well-connected elite in Iran who are the actual recipients of the U.S. dollars at the state-set rate and instead of spending the money for its original purposes, the recipients import luxury items for their fellow oligarchs or simply deposit it in foreign accounts.

In the eternal fights among the different factions of the ruling elite in Iran, both sides are trying to blame their opponents for the corruption to avoid the increasing public outrage over poor economic conditions and blatant corruption.

In his recent visit to Northern Khorasan province, Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani blamed profiteers for taking U.S. dollars at state-set rates and not importing essential goods.

“These profiteers took the dollars from us to import essential goods to cover the public’s needs, but cheated and used fake forms, and didn’t live up to their obligations, leaving the people to suffer,” Rouhani said.

Nonetheless, the fact is that the very profiteers Rouhani talks about are the governmental institutions or individuals with excellent connections to the top. Otherwise, they would not have received any foreign currency for importing goods.

“While providing foreign currency at state-set prices to government companies, we have repeatedly warned and the government has never listened,” says Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament). “Ten thousand government companies have received subsidized foreign currency. If the government has been cheated while distributing subsidized foreign currency, it needs to go after the perpetrators. The government needs to identify the CEOs who did wrong and refer them to the judiciary.”

While profiteers received subsidized foreign currency, in many cases they sell their imported goods at real market rates.

According to Keyhan newspaper, the head of Iran’s Chicken Farming Association says: “During the Persian new year (March 21), the price of soy imported with subsidized foreign currency that should have been 24,000 rials per kilo reached 50,000 rials per kilo. Now that the set price for it is 24,500 rials, the end-user is getting it for 31,500 rials.”

“Just in the second half of the Persian year 2018-2019, more than $3.7 billion have been allocated for livestock food at 42,000 rials. However, the end product reaches chicken farmers at twice the price. The institution's responsible need to answer where the remaining hundreds of billions of rials of subsidies from the public’s pockets went?” asked the president of Iran’s Chicken Farmers Association.

Majlis member Vali Maleki describes another avenue of stealing foreign currencies at state-set prices and addresses Rouhani directly. “Immense economic pressure has devastated the people. In these circumstances, it is very painful to hear that foreign currencies are sold to charities, individuals, and companies that have infiltrated ministries and the Central Bank by forging documents and are importing secondhand equipment. Dear colleagues, please note that foreign currency at the rate of 42,00o rials was supposed to be used for essential goods. However, we have reports and documents that show this currency has not been used properly,” he said.

Gholamhossin Esmaily, spokesman for the judiciary says, “$157 million at state-set rates have been paid for importing paper. However, only about $57 million worth of it has been imported into the country.”

Iran: Smuggling fuel to neighboring Pakistan

Iran: Smuggling fuel to neighboring Pakistan

Trucks smuggling fuel from Iran to Pakistan

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, July 9, 2019 - In recent days, reports have emerged on social media claiming that huge amounts of fuel are smuggled to Pakistan over Iran’s eastern borders. Namely the Sistan and Baluchistan province in southeast Iran where the major part of the Sunni minority lives is blamed for the smuggling.

However, it is no secret that the main smuggling of fuel and especially oil in recent years isn’t done with 40-liter fuel containers. Organizing endless caravans of fuel tankers with thousands of liters of capacity each can’t be done without at least receiving the green light from authorities.

In 2018, the Fars news agency, affiliated to the terrorist-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), published a video clip titled, “Organized smuggling of fuel/‌pipework on the seabed for smuggling fuel!” They also wrote about smuggling fuel with small boats: “In Hormozgan province, there are 50 launches [small boats] which smuggle 20,000 to 50,000 liters of fuel each, every day. That’s how millions of liters of the country’s resources are stolen every day.”

Smuggling fuel was a lucrative business in Iran even before the energy sanctions that prevented the Iranian mullahs from selling the country’s crude oil for hard currency. That is because fuel is subsidized in Iran and is sold way lower than free market prices. Profiteers with the right connections and assets can make a fortune by smuggling the cheap fuel to neighboring countries.

Also in late 2018, Abdollah Hendiani, deputy manager of the office of the fight against goods and currency smuggling in Iran, said during an interview with Iran’s state-run television, “Over the past three months, about one billion liters have been smuggled. This is about ten to 13 million liters of smuggled fuel every day.”

Smuggling this huge amount of fuel over the Iranian border per day requires a caravan of 500 fuel tankers with a capacity of 20,000 liters each. And every tanker needs to cross the border twice per day.

The amount of trafficked fuel is so high that Pakistani officials are calling for action to prevent further damages to their economy.

Fars news agency writes, “The Pakistani customs office announced in a report that smuggled fuel from Iran is damaging the country in the range of 300 million rupees per year, calling for increased supervision of the borders.”

“Reports show that about 50 to 60 percent of Karachi’s fuel is smuggled and foreign shipping companies and domestic fuel stations are the customer base of Iran’s smuggled gas,” Fars news agency further writes.

The situation is so bad that Iranian regime Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh acknowledges the fact that officials have a hand in the entire smuggling business. “Smuggling has increased. And it’s not only smugglers, everybody has [a hand in it],” he said.

Iran’s chief of the committee for combating trafficking also said that smuggling fuel is an “organized crime” and “it may be connected to some government institutions.”

Although smuggling fuel and crude oil can by no means compensate for the sales that the Iranian regime has lost due to sanctions, pundits expect further increases in smuggling in the coming months.

Iran mullahs systematically mining digital currencies

Iran mullahs systematically mining digital currencies

Bitcoin farm (File Photo)

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, July 8, 2019 - Facing an increasingly dysfunctional economy, political and economic isolation and the inability to sell crude oil, Iranian mullahs and their cronies are resorting to mining digital currencies to compensate for the financial means they have lost.

Late in June, first reports about the new phenomenon appeared in Iranian media but on July 4, the news became more concrete.

“Managing director of Varamin County’s electricity company broke the news of discovering 14 bitcoin mining farms across different regions of the county,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Bitcoin is the most famous digital currency. Miners lend their computing power to bitcoin’s global network and help to calculate the next block in its digital ledger. This is done through a series of complicated mathematical operations that require a large amount of electricity to solve.

IRNA further quoted Moslem Haji Mazandarani, Managing director of Varamin County’s electricity company saying, “Employees of Varamin County’s electric company investigated the power consumption pattern in different regions of the county and succeeded in discovering digital currency mining farms.”

“The largest farms have been discovered in Tehran province, belonging to an active industrial center in the town of Salarieh and more than one thousand and 134 mining rigs have been discovered there,” the managing director further said.

“The center was consuming 800 kilowatts of electricity every day paid based on industrial tariffs. Comparatively, this amount of electricity is equal to the consumption of 1,200 households.”

Cheap electricity is vital for mining digital currencies to be profitable. Iran’s subsidized electricity distribution incentivizes higher energy consumption and its misuse.

In other news, Iranian media report that 500 bitcoin mining farms have also been discovered in Alborz province of northern Iran.

After the proliferation of bitcoin mining, it appears that the Iranian regime doesn’t tolerate it anymore and intends to monopolize it in the hands of its own cronies.

On July 5, Tabnak website reported that some leading Iranian mullahs have issued fatwas that make bitcoin mining “Haram” (forbidden under religious regulations), effectively paving the path for the regime’s forces to shut down mining farms and seizing the rigs.

Iran: June inflation reaches 37.6 percent

Iran: June inflation reaches 37.6 percent

Prices for edible goods skyrocket by 75 percent in Iran

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, June 26, 2019 - According to a report published by Iran Statistic Center, the rate of inflation for the past 12 months ending June 2019 reached 37.6 percent, showing a 3.4 percent increase compared to May.

The center said the inflation in June 2019 compared to June 2018 has increased 50.4 percent, meaning that an Iranian family has spent 50.4 percent more money on goods and services this June in comparison to last June.

The report further acknowledges that only in the categories of eatable, drinkable and smoking items, prices have jumped 75 percent in comparison to last year.

The regime ruling Iran has been behind the destruction of this rich country’s economy, vividly seen in escalating inflation.

Read more:

40 years after Iran’s 1979 revolution, the ruling mullahs have taken the country back to the Middle Ages. 

Iran has large natural resources and the potential to improve the lives of all Iranians. In addition, Iran owns 7 percent of mines of the world, the largest hydrocarbon sources (Oil and Gas) in the world, 9.3 percent of the world’s oil and 18 percent of the world’s gas, and Iran itself has more natural sources than the entire EU area.

However, Iran is ruled by a dictatorship that spends all its wealth in terrorism and suppression. The fact is that Iran is ruled by a corrupt government that has looted Iranian people’s property to extend its rule.

Iran under mullahs ranked 93rd in the world in health care, in welfare, Iranian people are ranked 108 out of 149 countries and the Iranian regime is on the top of the list of countries suffering from state-run money laundering and this is one of the reasons that the Iranian regime is ranked 138 in the world in corruption and also among top countries with high inflation rates

Iranian workers’ monthly salary is less than $100 and Iran is the only country that uses all its renewable water resources and is being pushed toward an irreversible water crisis by the government.

Moreover, Iran has some of the most dangerous roads in the world and is among the top countries in road fatalities.

The mismanagement of Iran's economy has led to mass dissatisfaction and protests. The people of Iran believe they deserve better.

In the past year, Iranian people have taken to the streets to reclaim their country and destiny.

Iran: The economic free fall and the deadly inflation tsunami

Iran: The economic free fall and the deadly inflation tsunami

The economic free fall and the deadly inflation tsunami

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

May 14, 2019 - On May 4, the state-run newspaper Asr-e Iran wrote about the significant increase in prices of consumer goods.

“Now, we are facing an unrestrained economic instability and fear about the future. Prices are almost unimaginable. It appears that all of it is a horrifying nightmare and will end when you wake up. However, we all know that what is described as a nightmare is the hard truth,” the piece reads in part.

A few days earlier on May Day, Eghtesasd 24, an Iranian state-run website specialized in economic news, wrote about the current economic misery worker families face.

“The inflation that especially in the past two years has bent the back of working-class families isn’t limited to increases in red meat prices. Prices of fruit, vegetables and especially products like onions and potatoes that are the main ingredient of the daily food of working-class families have increased to such an extent that you can safely say that workers and their families are craving for fruits for a long time,” the article reads.

On May 6, state-run Vatan Emrooz newspaper, wrote: “The cost of food is far higher than in other countries. Right now, no more 42,000 rial U.S. currency is dedicated to importing beans and its cost has increased by 100 percent. Special currency for importing butter and meat are also dropped, the government hasn’t presented an alternative and subsidies are not provided for the people either.”

In Iran, U.S. dollars are bought and sold at two rates: the official rate is set by the state and the free market rate that changes based on on-the-ground market conditions.

While the state-set rate for one U.S. dollar is set at 42,000 Iranian rials, the free market price is around 150,000 rials.

The Iranian regime should be providing US dollars at state-set prices for special purposes such as importing raw materials for factories or essential consumer goods and thus effectively controlling inflation and domestic prices.

However, what happens, in reality, is an outrageous story of blatant corruption, nepotism, and kleptocracy where US dollars at state-set prices are handed out to the well-connected elite who make huge profits at the expense of ordinary Iranians.

On May 6, the Tabnak website published an article titled, “Brokers profited 200 thousand billion tomans from ‘Jahangiri’s currency’.” A toman is equal to 10 rials.

Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran’s First Vice President, famously set and announced the current official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar, so, in current Persian parlance, “Jahangiri’s currency” means USDs at the 42,000 rial rate.

Considering that calculated with the free market rate, 200 thousand billion tomans roughly equal more than $13 billion.

Tabnak writes: “In [the Persian] year 2018-2019, $20 billion have been given to different institutions at the [state-set] rate of 42,000 rials. If you calculate the price at the free market rate, the difference is about 200 thousand billion tomans. That’s while the damage of last month’s huge flood has been calculated at 35 thousand billion tomans.”

Keyhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s, writes: “A few weeks after the JCPOA was implemented, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht [then-spokesperson for the Iranian government] announced that $100 billion Iranian frozen money has been released. Although, government officials later and in a questionable move very much decreased the amount of this money, the main question remains about where this huge amount has been spent that no government official has said anything about it?”

In another admission about the blatant corruption in the Islamic Republic and how just a tiny portion of Iran’s none-oil export revenue is returned to the country, state-run news agency ISNA wrote a damning report on March 4.

“From the $40 billion of exports that the country had in the 11 months of this year, only $8 billion returned to the country.”

Meanwhile, prices of the most basic food products are skyrocketing.

The IRNA news agency reported on May 1 that after a 459.5 percent increase in its prices, onions are the record holder among food products.

Iran’s crises: Gasoline & a powder keg society

Iran’s crises: Gasoline & a powder keg society

Authorities in Iran have plans to ration gasoline & increase the price

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, May 6, 2019 - Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported on May 3, numerous Majlis (parliament) members’ expressed opposition to the government’s plan to increase fuel prices in Iran.

“Official statements about the necessity to ration fuel in the [Persian] year 2019-2020 and what some informed sources inside the Oil Ministry have said about this silent move by the government has led to responses by parliament members against the government’s move. This increases the chances of canceling the rationing plan for fuel in the [Persian] year 2019-2020,” the new agency wrote.

“The government should accept the consequences of its abrupt decision,” the news agency quotes Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani, a member of Iran’s Majlis (parliament).

Deligani then refers to the explosive mood of society.

“The decision to increase fuel prices in the current economic climate is alarming,” he warned.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, also expressed concerns about the country being a powder keg.

“Considering the popular anger and concern about the price increase of fuel, the government is obliged to consider the possible consequences and societal damages of any decision and its decisions must have social reasons,” he said.

Behrouz Nemati, spokesperson for the Majlis board of directors also expressed major concerns.

“The government shouldn’t risk the dangers of increasing fuel prices. Currently, we shouldn’t impose new difficulties on the people,” Nemati said.

Kouhkan, a member of Majlis from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s faction, says: “The Judiciary needs to prosecute the officials who announced that fuel prices will be increased.”

But, Jalal Mirzaii, member of the Energy Commission in Majlis and a close aid of the Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani’s faction, added his views. “This is a decision collectively made by the heads of the three branches of power. This is one of the few issues where the heads of the three branches have accepted responsibility and made a final decision.”

The latest Friday prayers sermons were also a scene of attacking the government because of fuel prices.

“One can smell treason from expensive fuel amid growing U.S. pressure,” said Ebrahim Hosseini, the Friday prayer imam in the city of Saveh, northern Iran.

Newspapers close to Khamenei’s faction, and even some newspapers close to Rouhani’s own faction criticized the government for the decision to increase the fuel prices.

The Vatan-e Emrouz newspaper described the rationing and price increase of fuel a new hide and seek scenario. “Why did the government back off from its decision about fuel and ran away from accepting the responsibility?”

The Vatan-e Emrouz and Resalat newspapers reported that an official from the Oil Ministry has personally contacted the Fars news agency – affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) - asking it to publish the news about rationing and fuel price increase. However, facing public dissent, Zangeneh accused Fars of lying.

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Rouhani’s Interior Minister, defended the new price increase and issued warnings. “This has always been a subject of discussion. The price that fuel is currently sold for, the amount of fuel consumption with a peak of 110 million liters per day and an average of 90 million liters per day, this isn’t acceptable economically, environmentally and from the standpoint of the peoples’ health.”

Regardless of the internal feud between different factions of the ruling theocracy in Tehran, the fact is that the Iranian regime is terrified of the society’s explosive circumstances. This very fear led to the Rouhani government backing off from its initial decision to ration and increase fuel prices.

It is worth mentioning that back in the days of Ahmadinejad’s government, increasing fuel prices led to popular and violent protests. Considering the current state of the economy, increasing fuel prices could be the last straw that breaks peoples’ backs and erupts in a popular uprising that is already looming large over the Islamic Republic’s reign.