During his three years of presidency, the now-dead Ebrahim Raisi brought nothing but poverty, misery, inflation, suppression, massacre, and executions for the people of Iran. In contrast, he excelled in “must therapy,” “lie therapy,” and especially “promise therapy,” breaking records in these areas; his most notable hollow promises during his presidency were the creation of one million jobs annually and the construction of 4 million housing units, none of which ever materialized.
These days, in their debates and competitions, the candidates for the regime’s upcoming presidential elections all follow Raisi’s line of “promise therapy.” They present no concrete social or economic solutions and only speak of imaginary and baseless ideas. A look at these promises shows the emptiness of the high-ranking officials’ hands from any plans or roadmaps for the future.
Promises based on betrayal
The speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has started acting and making ridiculous promises such as “providing housing for workers,” “controlling inflation and achieving economic stability,” and “forcing rent-seekers to pay taxes.” Meanwhile, a video recently released by his rivals shows that Ghalibaf’s associates offered him a bribe of 100 billion rials in 2016.
Therefore, aside from other his other financial scandals he is one of the accused with widespread violations and enormous embezzlements, being among the managers of the world’s largest looting system and the cause of poverty and misery for over 60 to 70 million Iranians.
On, June 11, the state-run Khabar Online news website quoted former member of Majlis (parliament) Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imenabadi as saying: “In the election for the Majlis Presidium, I told the independents: Voting for Ghalibaf is a betrayal to the state and the martyrs. They said: He promised not to run for the presidency. I said: Ghalibaf adheres to no principles and has a lust for power. After he registered for the presidential election, they said: We made a mistake.”
These days, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a member of Death Committee of 1988 massacre, is constantly engaging in self-promotion by making various promotional clips to present himself as a different character. He, who during the chain murders of the 1990s was the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and involved in the slaughter of writers, artists, and dissidents, now speaks of security for artistic activities for artists.
On June 10, the state-run Entekhab news website quoted him as saying: “In the field of art, supervisory, security, and protective agencies… do not have the right to interfere, command, and control in the field of expertise and profession.”
Regarding the internet, which has frustrated people with frequent outages and high tariffs, Pourmohammadi posted on X: “The internet is like the water, and blocking it has disrupted people’s lives. My promise to you is to appoint a minister who will eliminate the need for VPNs and ensure user security!” Interestingly, the regime’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology does not even have the authority to block or unblock internet access.
On September 4, 2022, Entekhab reported that Issa Zarepour, the Communications Minister in Raisi government, previously revealed that “Blocking or unblocking [the internet] is not within the ministry’s authority!”
His other promises are also each a subject of controversy and satire.
Outdoing Raisi with 10 million houses
Another candidate, Alireza Zakani, who has made a fortune from the municipality is trying every means to seize a higher position. Zakani claimed that “Instead of the promised 4 million, I will build 10 million houses.” While with all the fabricated statistics, even Raisi did not achieve even half a percent of his promise and at the end of his two-year presidency, “only 6,000 housing units were ready for use!”
In a situation where the high price of meat has dealt a final blow to people’s tables, Zakani made another absurd claim.
On June 13, Khabar Online quoted him as saying, “We will distribute 120 tons of meat daily and deliver it to people’s homes as needed.”
Regardless of all these deceptions and frauds, the people of Iran do not pay any attention to this false propaganda. And they are making it clear in many ways that “My vote is for overthrow.”