Iran’s economy is bankrupt and the government isn’t doing anything about it, Majlis (parliament) speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf admitted recently in a meeting with the members of the Majlis Research Center. The remarks are significant because they are coming from an official who has served different key posts in the past decade, and they go against the regime’s constant claims that Iran’s economy is flourishing.
The state-run ISNA news agency’s coverage of Ghalibaf’s remarks was published under the title, “If our economy is bankrupt, it is because of the nationalization, not because of sanctions.”
While in his remarks, Ghalibaf tries to justify many of the regime’s destructive policies and lay the blame on elements that are beyond his controls, he nonetheless made some important confessions in his remarks.
Analyzing the reasons for Iran’s economic bankruptcy, Ghalibaf admitted that after four decades of ruling the country, the mullahs’ regime still doesn’t know “what is the main problem of the society” and can’t agree on the “priorities of the country.” And naturally, they can’t decide on which problem to fix first.
Ghalibaf also admitted that under the current turmoil, even sanctions relief and oil sales can’t fix the country’s problems.
“Oil revenue will not address our needs and it is clear that a budget plan that is based on oil sales will not be the right path for us,” he said.
This goes against remarks made by other regime officials who are quick to blame every economic problem on international sanctions.
Ghalibaf further admitted that the regime has no long-term plan. “Unfortunately, we are living by the day, and I’m saying this based on studies that I’ve made,” he said.
This is an implicit acknowledgment that the regime does not have any economic strategy, and as it has proven in four decades, its only strategy is to do whatever it takes to keep the mullahs’ rule afloat.
In his remarks, Ghalibaf also admitted that none of the budget plans in the past years have been successful. He made these remarks a week after regime president Ebrahim Raisi presented the budget bill for the Persian year 1401 (starting in March 2022) to the Majlis.
“We haven’t been successful in any of these budgets,” Ghalibaf said. “One of our problems today are legislations that are not implementable. We shouldn’t pass laws that can’t be implemented, because if we do so, we ourselves will be the first lawbreakers.”
Ghalibaf acknowledged that government management is at its most awful state and gave an example of Iran’s automobile industry, which has brought up nothing but debts.
“According to remarks by the Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, the debt of the car manufacturing industry has reached 850 trillion rials, and according to other estimates, the real figure is 1,850 trillion rials. It is natural that when managers don’t pay out of their own pockets and only manage, they will cause debts for the public coffers,” Ghalibaf said.
 speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf){kind=link}