Credit to Mojahedin.org: 80% of Iran’s economy is in the hands of the repressive IRGC.

The economic situation in Iran has reached a critical stage, which some economists have dubbed a “super crisis.” The economy has steadily worsened under the mullahs’ rule, but the regime and its surrogates have long downplayed the problems facing the country. Over the past year, though, a series of crises have snowballed into a catastrophe that can no longer be ignored.

Unemployment and Unpaid Wages

Recently, the state-run ILNA news agency published a report about the economic crisis facing Iran and its effect on the country’s workers, many of whom have lost their jobs or have not received wages from their jobs for months.

In an interview as part of the ILNA report, trade union member Maziar Gilani Nejad said, “At present, sectors including industry, agriculture, animal husbandry and fruit farming have experienced an unprecedented stagnation. More than 60% of industrial workshops have been completely shut down, or their production capacities have been reduced to less than half.”

“In agriculture and animal farming, the situation is the same,” Nejad  went on to say. “The recurring demonstrations of Isfahan farmers in protest to water scarcity and unemployment is proof of this claim.”

In Isfahan, farmers who were once wealthy has been forced into poverty as a result of the regime’s failed policies and corruption. Farmers in the region have protested repeatedly over the past year over the lack of access to water and the economic crisis.

Nejad also referenced the HEPCO workers who were recently flogged and given prison sentences for participating in protests. “How can workers who have not been paid for months continue to work?” he asked.

The trade union member went on to ask, “How can they manage their day to day life? How can they ask these workers to stay silent and not demand their wages which is their inalienable right?”

Nejad finished the interview by summing up the problem that faces many of Iran’s workers: “We should not forget that the economic situation is such that even if the employer pays the workers’ wages every month, the households still do not have enough to provide their livelihood, so imagine the situation of workers who have not received their salaries for months.”

It is telling that even state-run media now routinely acknowledges that the widespread protests taking place across Iran are happening because of valid frustrations with the regime. State-run media has also repeatedly acknowledged the MEK’s influence over the protest movement and its threat to the ruling regime.

Hyperinflation

Despite regime President Rouhani’s statements to the contrary, Iran is currently suffering from hyperinflation. According to the International Monetary Fund’s  (IMF) most recent report, Iran’s inflation rate is at least 30%.

In a November 3rd report on ILNA, economist and university professor Morteza Afghah said that “Iran’s economy was turning into a disaster.”
““We should consider the current situation as hyperinflation, and we should have a worse-than-expected forecast if economic variables and our foreign relations do not change. Given the sharp fall of the number of people below the line of poverty, especially those belonging to the working class, this indicates the presence of hyperinflation,” Afghah said.
“In addition to workers, employees who had a better livelihood, like teachers and nurses, are also falling below the poverty line,” he added.
Afghah admitted that the regime had no solution for the crisis facing Iran. It is worth noting that the MEK has gained popularity in large part because it offers a viable alternative to the mullahs’ regime and a democratic solution to the many crises facing Iran.

Corruption

State-run website have tentatively broached the subject of the regime’s corruption, sometimes writing in-depth reports of corruption by regime officials, although they have to tread lightly when discussing or quoting those within the regime.

Seyed Reza Akrami, a member of the Combatant Clergy Association, told ILNA that the regime was hoarding its assets.

“Do not put your capital in the safe and the hidden places and bring it to industry, industrial workshops, and farms and use it for domestic production. (If you do) we will surely see the rise of employment and production and reduced dependence on the outside,” Akrami said.

In reference to the economic harm arising from regime corruption, Akrami, a former cleric and member of the regime Parliament, said, “There are many things that cannot be said.”

“I shouldn’t express everything that goes on in my mind. Some things cannot be said because those listening might not be able to handle it or it could be considered giving information to the enemy.”

Staff Writer