“The spread of insecurity in society is dangerous!”
This is the headline of the state-run Etemad newspaper—a warning, an alarm bell. It refers to what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) media outlet Javan anxiously wrote about on February 17: “Its scope could lead to imposing significant costs on the system.”
The red alarms are due to crushing price hikes, which, MP Malek Shariati warned on February 17 have “turned into a nightmare for the people; everyone is asking how long this situation will continue.”
Every week, the price of a basic commodity skyrockets. Recently, it was medicine’s turn, with prices rising fivefold. Even the state-owned pharmaceutical company Zahravi announced a 415% price increase for its products. The situation became so dire that MP Hassan Shojai Ali Abadi was forced to admit on February 16: “Medicine prices are so outrageous that patients cannot afford to buy their medication.”
Today, it is rice’s turn, which, as Eghtesad News puts it, “has joined the price hike drumbeat like potatoes.” Ahead of Ramadan and Nowruz (Iranian New Year), even the lowest-quality rice is being sold for up to 1.5 million rials per kilogram. The state-run Eghtesad Online headlined on February 17: “The shock of 2 million rial rice for the people.” Even MP Mohammad Ali Naghdali, a cleric and a known regime profiteer, admitted in the Majlis out of fear of public outrage on February 16: “Within a week, the price of a sack of rice has increased by 3 million rials, and a kilogram of legumes by 1 million rials.” The state-run Eghtesad Online asks on February 17: “What is happening in the rice market?”
The answer once again lies in factional infighting, as the ruling mafia “rations the distribution of this commodity in the market to drive prices even higher (i.e., further plundering of the impoverished people)” (Eghtesad News, February 2).
In the chaotic market of theft and inflation, rival factions of the regime’s mafia in Majlis expose each other’s corruption. MP Mohsen Zanganeh revealed a major gold-related scam in the Majlis session on February 16: “Six billion dollars in export revenue has been converted into gold bars. Who is pocketing the profits from the gold coin bubble?” In the same session, MP Nabiollah Mohammad accused the government of pushing the dollar to 9 million rials to drain people’s pockets, saying: “When the government controls the money-printing machine, this is what happens to liquidity?”
The state-run Kayhan also wrote on February 17: “Due to the continued dual-exchange rate corruption, we are still witnessing daily increases in the value of foreign currencies.” The state-run newspaper Jomhouri Eslami acknowledges the relentless price hikes and the permanent crisis, and wrote on February 17: “Those who have no role in increasing inflation bear the greatest burden of its misery. Their dining tables shrink daily, while those most responsible for skyrocketing inflation enjoy ever more lavish feasts.”
A regime-affiliated analyst, in a warning published by state media, states: “The [ruling clique] is too gluttonous to stand upright, and the people are too exhausted to remain on their feet” (Bani Asadi, February 18).
And history has shown that when a people, impoverished by the plundering of their rulers, can no longer “stand on their feet,” they become extremely dangerous for the rulers.