In his inauguration speech Iranian regime President Ebrahim Raisi spoke of “developments” and his presidency will mean a “change in the status quo.”
Nine months into his tenure Iran is witnessing drastic economic crises, people’s livelihoods nosediving, millions plunging into poverty, and even bread is becoming a luxury these days.
On April 26 state TV in Iran announced a five-to-seven-fold increase in the prices of various types of bread. The regime’s official IRNA news agency wired a report on May 4 emphasizing that “the only solution left is canceling all bread subsidies,” signaling an unbridled skyrocketing of bread prices across the board.
As a result, prices of various types of bread began to increase throughout Iran in an unprecedented manner. The price of sandwich buns jumped by 1,300 percent. People on social media were reporting the different price hikes, forcing the regime’s state media, such as the “Eslahat News” website on May 3, to acknowledge the fact that people can’t even purchase simple sandwiches as the bread has become far too expensive.
Ebrahim Sayami, a senior official of the regime’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, announced on May 5 that bread will be rationed, meaning each loaf of bread will be sold at 100,000 rials (around 35 cents). In fear of the resulting social backlash, there are reports claiming regime officials have denied any intentions to ration bread.
It is worth noting that the regime’s economic mafia, linked to mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself, has long been plundering the Iranian people by raising the prices of medicine and edible goods, parallel to a variety of basic necessities. Regime officials are acknowledging that bread is becoming scarce, the prices of various medicine has escalated by around 1,000 percent, and rice prices have increased by 130 percent, all in the span of just nine months.
And when people began purchasing macaroni in place of rice due to the latter’s rising prices, state officials sudden increased the price of macaroni three-fold. State media are reporting that “the price of poultry will soon increase to 700,000 to 800,000 rials per kilogram ($2.45 to $2.80),” according to a May 5 report wired by the semi-official ILNA news agency. Keep in mind that an ordinary worker in Iran has a meager monthly salary of only 10 million rials. A kilogram of poultry would cost nearly 10 percent of a workers’ monthly salary. How is such a worker to make ends meet?
Regime officials are fully aware of the concerning status quo. The ruling mullahs are before a fork in the road: continuing to pursue, or end their funding of regional terrorism and warmongering, alongside their pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that is resulting in pushing more millions into poverty.
Khamenei considers any such step backs as devastating to the regime’s pillars of power. “Why should we forgo [these initiatives]?” he asked on March 10. This indicates that the mullahs’ regime is determined to continue their long slate of malign measures at the expense of the Iranian people suffering from skyrocketing prices of basic foods, gasoline, housing, medicine, and now, even ordinary bread, a necessity that can be described as the most basic daily food item for any society.
The mullahs’ measures, however, will not go unanswered. There are growing calls for protests against skyrocketing prices, as seen in the city of Izeh in southwest Iran on the night of Friday, May 6. Locals were in the streets protesting and some reports indicate that protesters took control of a flour warehouse.
In a letter to the regime’s president, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Basij paramilitary warned of possible protests over prices of basic goods. “The society is not ready for sudden price hikes,” the text reads, adding such decisions can lead to social unrest.
This is the latest of such warnings by different regime officials and institutions. In November 2019, a sudden increase in the price of gasoline triggered a nationwide protest. The IRGC Basij played a key role in suppressing the uprising and murdering more than 1,500 protesters.
A senior member of the mullahs sanctuary in the city of Qom said on May 5 that if “skyrocketing prices are not brought under control, there won’t be a revolution. We should expect a revolt by the hungry; a revolt is far more dangerous than a revolution!”
