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: Who’s putting “maximum pressure” on the people?

Iran: Who’s putting “maximum pressure” on the people?

Archive photo: Iranians take to the streets protesting the dire economic conditions. Tehran, June 2018

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, September 25, 2019—In his latest speech just a few days ago, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei used the term “maximum pressure” 20 times. Now, whenever Iranian officials talk about maximum pressure and the pressure that the current sanctions regime is placing on the Islamic Republic of Iran, they try deceitfully to pretend that the target of this maximum pressure campaign are ordinary Iranians, especially poorer ones.

There is no doubt that ordinary Iranians are under maximum pressure that is even increasing by the day. However, this pressure is actually exerted by the corrupt Iranian regime itself, which has impoverished Iranians to a point where more than 70 percent live under the poverty line.

What Iranian officials mean by “economic pressure” and “maximum pressure” is first and foremost the pressure that the regime feels on itself from the inside and outside, and its first solution to compensate this pressure is to further insert its corrupt hands into the pockets of Iranian families.

Referring to protests by Iranians who lost their savings in financial institutions affiliated with the Iranian regime, Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian economist close to the faction of Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani, said on September 22: “In an attempt to calm down the situation and escape these uprisings, the government dedicated 330 trillion rials [around $2.75 billion at the current rate of approximately 120,000 rials per dollar]."

“However, the money landed mostly in the pockets of gangs that are behind these financial and credit institutions. This 330 trillion rials of powerful money that the government had to print created the equal of 2.55 quadrillion rials of liquidity (around $21.25 billion) in this short period of time. At the time of printing, this was equal to 14 to 15 percent of the overall liquidity that was created in the entire history of Iran from day one until 2017. This number created an unchecked inflation across the country,” Laylaz continued.

Referring to the regime’s manipulation of foreign currency exchange rates in 2017 under the pretext of containing the first round of sanctions against the Iranian regime, Saeed Laylaz further said: “We witnessed how the price of the U.S. dollar reached 180,000 to 190,000 rials in the market. The rate of foreign currency shouldn’t have crossed the 80,000 rial threshold, under any condition and measure. This incident created one of the rarest cases of corruption in Iran’s economic history, in terms of quantity.”

“I guess that from early 2018 until early 2019, a total of 7 to 9 quadrillion rials (equal to $58.3 to $75 billion) of corruption, embezzlement and misuse has been inflicted upon the Iranian economy,” he concludes.

Revealing the true source of “maximum pressure” on poor Iranian families, the economic expert continues by saying that this unprecedented corruption “places unprecedented pressure on the impoverished branches of the Iranian society.”

“When in April 2018, the inflation rate reached 52 percent and the inflation rate for food items reached 70 to 80 percent, I guess that the inflation rate for segments of Iran’s poor people, meaning the first and second deciles, was in the three digits. This is a national catastrophe,” Laylaz said.

Iranian political prisoner brutally tortured, denied medical treatment

Iranian political prisoner brutally tortured, denied medical treatment

Iranian political prisoner Mehdi Farahi Shandiz

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, September 17, 2019—According to reports from inside Iran, regime authorities severely tortured Iranian political prisoner Mehdi Farahi Shandiz in Karaj Central Prison. Prison guards transferred Farahi Shandiz to the prison’s medical center after he lost consciousness under torture.

The Iranian regime’s repressive forces tortured Mehdi Farahi Shandiz while he was on hunger strike.

After transferring the political prisoner to the medical center, the prison guards did not allow him to receive full treatment and immediately returned him to solitary confinement after he received minimum care.

Farahi Shandiz suffered from a heart attack in July and was transferred to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with diabetes and heart failure.

It is worth reminding that earlier this month, Iranian political prisoner Mehdi Farahi Shandiz had staged a protest and chanted slogans after prison authorities ignored the demands of prisoners. During the event, prison authorities attacked him and forced him into solitary confinement.

On September 7, Iranian political prisoners in Karaj Central Prison protested to the poor living conditions inside the facility. Many of the political prisoners in the facility are kept in harsh conditions. In one of the prison’s halls, more than 200 prisoners don’t even have beds or a cell. They’re forced to stay in the open, under the sun and rain, and they sleep in hallways.

In this regard, the political prisoners of Karaj Central Prison wrote a letter to prison authorities on September 7. But the authorities refused to pay attention to the protests and warnings of the prisoners. The continued silence and inaction of prison authorities spurred Farahi Shandiz to be more vocal in his protests to the harsh and inhuman conditions of the prison.

Iranian political prisoner Mehdi Farahi Shandiz is an electrical engineering graduate and a high school math and physics teacher from Tehran. In 2011, Iranian security forces arrested Farahi Shandiz on charges of acting against national security and insulting Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the regime. The Iranian regime usually uses vague national security allegations to impose heavy sentences on political prisoners.

The regime’s judiciary sentenced Farahi Shandiz to three years in prison, but extended his sentence to 12 years after accusing him of other vague charges. In the past eight years, Farahi Shandiz has suffered from impairment to his sight and hearing and fractured ribs under torture.

In 2013, Farahi Shandiz suffered from dark spots in his eyesight after being severely tortured in Evin prison. In 2017, the head of the Karaj Penitentiary severely beat Farahi Shandiz, fracturing his ribs and causing severe damage to his hearing.

Before transferring him to solitary confinement, Karaj Penitentiary’s authorities kept Farahi Shandiz in the ward of dangerous prisoners in breach of the principle of separation of crimes.

MEK: 54 years of struggle for freedom in Iran

MEK: 54 years of struggle for freedom in Iran

PMOI 54th founding anniversary

Iran, September 6, 2019—On the occasion of the 54^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Dr. Behrooz Pouyan, political science expert from Tehran, wrote an in-depth article about the history of the Iranian people's struggle for freedom and the role of the MEK in defending the fundamental rights of Iranians in the past 54 years. Excerpts from the article, originally published in the Persian edition of the PMOI/MEK website, follow:

In evaluating social movements, there are two key criteria. One is the general structure of the movement, including its goal, strategy, ideology, the organization of its members and their resolve in pursuing the movement's goals. The second criterion is the impact the movement has on the society.

In respect to the first criterion, I believe that the MEK, with 54 years of struggle for freedom, is an exceptional movement in the history of Iran, a fact that is irrefutable to it its proponents and opponents. This is an organization with a dynamic and scientific ideology, progressive goals, human values, a strong structure, and an unbreakable resolve, proven by more than 120,000 martyrs fallen for freedom in the past half century.

Each of the martyrs of this organization are proof of the determination and honesty of this organization in its goals, including the first MEK martyrs under the Shah's rule, the martyrs of the 1980s and especially the 1988 massacre, the martyrs of the National Liberation Army of Iran in the Eternal Light operation, and MEK members executed by the regime in recent years.

Also among them are MEK members who were killed in the attacks of the agents of [former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki and [Iranian regime supreme leader Ali] Khamenei, especially during the September 1, 2013, attack against Camp Ashraf, and the martyrs in Camp Liberty. All of these martyrs prove the resolve of the MEK to bring freedom and equality.

Can any false pretender of freedom and equality pay such a price? Which individual, group or movement can claim to appreciate the importance and value of freedom more than the MEK and its shining stars? This has made the MEK a revolutionary and unprecedented movement. Therefore, in ranking contemporary Iranian movements, there's no doubt that the MEK would stand at the top.

The achievements of the MEK

The characteristic of the MEK, which has put behind 54 years of history, is that since its founding, it has used the experience of revolutionary movements that preceded it. This helped the MEK close the gaps and fissures that made previous movements vulnerable.

To understand the achievements of the MEK, we must review its history in reverse order. We'll start by taking a quick look at the current state of the Iranian society, the mullahs' regime and the MEK itself. What factors contributed to the MEK becoming the only credible alternative to the mullahs' rule in Iran and across the world, driving the mullahs' regime toward its collapse and the Iranian society toward another revolution? Is it by happenstance that people are chanting "Down with the rule of the mullahs" in the streets of Iran?

If the Iranian regime has lost its legitimacy, we must ask, how did it lose it? Who first refused to legitimize the rule of the mullahs? It is worth reminding that the MEK did not take part in the referendum for the constitution of the rule of the mullahs [after the 1979 revolution], and since the beginning, contrary to the false pretenders of freedom and democracy, they did not give it legitimacy.

How did the mullahs' regime lose its international legitimacy? Did western governments, which for years backed this repressive regime, suddenly decided to abandon the appeasement policy and change course? If the MEK and the Iranian resistance did not expose the regime's terrorism and nuclear program, would the appeasement policy be defeated, and would it become possible for global politics to support the interests and desires of the Iranian people? If the MEK's decades-long efforts to expose the suppression and human rights violations of the regime did not exist, would the mullahs be caught in the human rights trap?

Moreover, it is worth reminding that when no political and social movement cared about human rights, it was the MEK that made it its priority to defend the political, social and human rights of all the Iranian people. Today, some people try to make a business out of opposing the regime's forced hijab, but they seem to forget that in 1979, a month after the revolution, the MEK staged the first demonstration against Khomeini's forced hijab law and defended the freedoms of Iranian women.

Also, when all political groups had been caught in the mullah-made trap of the war against Iraq (1980-1988), it was only the MEK that delegitimized the destructive war and led widespread efforts to end it, including by introducing a peace plan.

Today, thanks to the honest efforts and sacrifices of the MEK, the Iranian society has distanced itself from the mullahs' regime and is pushing it toward its overthrow. While the regime and its front organizations who pose as opposition groups try to marginalize the MEK, history will undoubtedly reveal the truth.

Iranian regime official slams Rouhani and Zarif for their failures

Iranian regime official slams Rouhani and Zarif for their failures

Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani – Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Keyhan daily, known as the mouthpiece of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Aug. 10, 2019 - In another episode of in-fighting among Iranian regime officials, Hossein Shariatmadari, the de facto spokesperson of Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Keyhan daily, attacked regime President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"You had promised that you would uphold the dignity of the [Iranian regime] passport, but today, when your foreign minister goes to UN headquarters in New York, he's only allowed to move in an 800-square-meter area, and the U.S. has passed the law to prohibit traveling to Iran," Shariatmadari wrote.

His remarks come on the heels of new U.S. sanctions against Zarif because of his role in perpetrating crimes and orders of Khamenei.

Regarding Rouhani's recent remarks during his visit to Zarif's office, Shariatmadari said, "As always, in his speech, he commended the nuclear deal without actually pointing out to any of its achievements."

He then reminded Rouhani, "You had pledged that, in addition to keeping the centrifuges spinning, you would start spinning the wheels of the livelihoods of the people. But in practice, both of these have stopped from turning. You had said that you would dismantle the sanctions, but not only they weren't dismantled, but dozens of other sanctions were added to them."

While rivaling factions in the regime regularly blame each other and the U.S. for the country's economic woes, as far as the people are concerned, the regime in its entirety is responsible for the corrupt and bankrupt economy of the country. In their ongoing protests, the people regularly chant, "Reformists, hardliners, the game is over," stressing that the only solution for Iran is the overthrow of the entire mullahs' regime.

Iranian opposition reveals more aspects of Tehran-backed terror groups

Iranian opposition reveals more aspects of Tehran-backed terror groups

Tehran has a long history of providing money, arms and training to terrorists

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Aug 5, 2019 - As tension between Iran and the West over the seizer of cargo ships and oil tankers by the Iranian regime is escalating, some Western intelligence agencies believe that the clerical regime ruling Iran has organized and funded sleeper terror cells across Europe including the U.K. that could attack on a green light by the Iranian regime in response to a conflict in the Gulf.

In an article titled “Iran’s ‘proxy’ terror army with cells ready to strike across West exposed” the Daily Star of UK cited a warning from the Iranian opposition group, the MEK, saying, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) - an opposition group which advocates the overthrow of the regime - warned the worsening political situation will see more use of these so-called proxies.

Other security agencies and groups have also acknowledged the existence of such sleeper cells.

Security intelligence group StratFor earlier this year detailed the spread of these forces - with Iran believed to have linked forces in at least six countries in the Middle East.

The Daily Star added that Operations linked to Iran reach deep into Europe and in the US as part of the regime’s use of “proxy” terrorist groups. And all of these are overseen by the military group known as the Quds Force, watched over by the powerful Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) which are both designated as a terrorist organization, FTO, by the US State Department.

According to an Iranian opposition official, Iran’s proxy groups have been engaged in terror acts including bombings, car bombs, missile firing and assassinations.

Shahin Ghobadi, the spokesman for the Iranian opposition MEK, warned we can see a “stepping up” of Iranian terrorist activity as the regime is “facing crises from all directions”.

Ghobadi told Daily Star that: “In this situation, the mullahs’ only solution is resorting to stepped-up suppression, more arrests inside Iran, and more terrorism and extremist measures abroad to maintain the regime’s balance and to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

“Export of extremism, terrorism, and belligerence in the region have been a pillar of survival of the clerical regime for the past 40 years,” Gobadi added. “This pillar has complimented the other pillar, total repression, and suppression.”

“These two constitute the main pillars of the clerical regime based on the concept of 'Velayat-e-faqih', or the absolute rule of the religious leader,” according to Ghobadi.

Iran’s Quds Force under command of General Qassem Soleimani - reports directly to the supreme leader of fundamentalist regime of Ali Khamenei

The Daily Star article continues, it is estimated the force is up to 20,000 strong and is understood to be responsible for supporting and training proxy groups worldwide.

Stratfor’s analysis from earlier this year points to Iranian proxy forces being directly involved in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza.

And it marked out Iran providing material support for forces in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon.

Terror plots and surveillance linked to Iran stretch much further than the Middle East, reaching into Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Iran seized the Stena Impero as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz (Pic: GETTY)

Iranian proxies have linked to incidents in France, Denmark, Germany, the US, Argentina, Thailand, Nigeria and more.

“Iran's embassies, intelligence networks, and proxies give it a global reach,” StratFor said in an analysis of the ongoing tensions with the US.

It is also believed Iranian proxies have been responsible for six attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz amid the new tanker wars.

Oil tanker attacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in Gulf waters

PMOI officials also estimated they believe Iran is now linked to training foreign mercenaries as part of the proxies.

And one of the largest groups linked to the Iranian regime is the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is linked to attacks on US forces in the 1980s.

Ghobadi told Daily Star it is estimated that the Iranian regime continues to hand around $1 billion every year to Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah has played a key role in the regime’s terrorism even outside of the Middle East,” he said.

“Hezbollah explicitly confessed that Iran provides everything, from money to weapons, ammunition, food, and clothing to Hezbollah and that without the clerical regime in Iran, Hezbollah cannot continue its survival.”

Iran is also linked to the ongoing war in Yemen, with the regime believed by the PMOI to be supporting Houthi rebels who have staged numerous attacks on Saudi Arabia.

“It provides them with missiles and other weapons and equipment,” Ghobadi said.

“In addition to warfare, the proxy groups have been engaged in terror acts, bombings, car bombs, firing missiles and similar acts that result in heightened tensions in the region.”

Iranian terrorist groups have also been linked to the cyber-attacks on UK infrastructure - including on MPs in 2017 and on government email servers in 2018.

Ghobadi told Daily Star Online the rise of the proxies can be linked to the Iraq War in 2003, which “opened the doors to the regime as a gateway to the rest of the region”.

He also claimed that “until two years ago, [the Iranian regime] paid no price for its outlaw conduct” - which is helping to fuel the expansion of the proxies.

More sanctions must be placed on the leadership of the Iranian regime and they should be designated as “terrorists”, Gobadi added.

“The ultimate solution is regime change by the Iranian people and the Resistance. The West should recognize the right of the people of Iran and the Resistance for regime change and should stand on their side.

“The clerical regime has never been as weak as today, and the prospect of its overthrow has never been so close.”

HMS Duncan and HMS Montrose have been given instructions to escort all British shipping in the Strait of Hormuz amid fears of further seizures after the capture of Stena Impero.