Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 14, 2021—The Iranian people believe that inflation is no longer due to economic interactions. In fact, skyrocketing prices are the flip side of the mullahs' war against the Iranian people, which is pushing the nation to the brink of extinction in order to preserve the regime.
The shortage of basic goods, along with their high prices, have become the new norm across the country.
"Lack of basic goods in supply will most likely lead to inflation in the near future. Therefore, consumers are declining their purchases," according to a September 9 piece wired by the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
A report published by Iran’s Statistics Center from March to early September reads: "Inflation in the price of food items was 58.4 percent and 36.1 percent among non-food items," according to a September 9 report in the state-run Vatan-emrooz daily.
"Unprecedented inflation is spreading the country and most of the society are suffering from poverty and barely making ends meet. People feel both inflation and high prices. The inflation rate, which is announced each year by the Statistics Center, is based on data from the computing system, which can be referred to as the implicit inflation rate. People feel more than what is being reported," according to a September 9 report published by the state-run Kar-va-karegar daily.
It is a known fact that negative statistics on economic issues are always downplayed. However, even if we take the inflation rate announced by the regime’s Statistic Center from March to early September of this year, people will face difficulty in procuring food and non-food items.
It is worth noting that the percentage increase in wages this year is much lower than the inflation and the rise in prices of basic goods. Workers' wages have risen 39 percent this year, while according to official estimates the inflation rate is close to 60 percent.
The severe impact of inflation on people’s lives is a reality that even regime’s own officials are acknowledging and raising concerns regarding the dangerous social consequences.
Jalal Mahmoodzadeh, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), acknowledged the rising number of people resorting to college garbage, portering, fuel trading and beggars among Iran’s lower class, saying it is due to "severe class gaps" between the majority of the people and the regime-linked minority.
Mahmoodzadeh goes on to blame the regime’s previous governments for Iran’s current economic, adding this is why people are "selling organs to make ends meet, sleeping in graves, becoming homeless, etc.," he said in an interview with the state-run Khabar TV on August 21.
However, everyone knows that this situation has nothing to do with this or that government.
"The problem is that what Ebrahim Raisi (the regime’s new president) has said so far has been heard more or less for 42 years. Various governments made the exact same remarks and arguments. The question is why has Iran’s class gap and economic corruption increased?" reads an August 25 article in the state-run Arman daily.
The result of this pressure on the people, rendering increasing poverty and skyrocketing prices, has also gravely concerned the regime's own internal factions.
"People are under severe economic pressure and fed up with low incomes, high costs, high prices and inflation," said Ahmad Moharramzadeh a Majlis member according to a September 8 report wired by the Majlis news agency.
"We are nearing the society's tolerance threshold," reads a September 1 piece published by the state-run Resalat daily. Furthermore, the state-run Jahan-e San’at daily wrote on September 9: "The extent of dissatisfaction is increasing and will undermine our security."
What concerns the regime in the first place is not people’s poverty, but an end to the nationals’ tolerance and growing dissatisfaction that threatens the regime’s security.
