While all of the protests stem from the dismal social and economic conditions, the administration makes futile attempts to link them to manufactured adversaries and well-intentioned foreigners.

Iran’s alarming issues have sparked more protests in recent years, and the regime faces unprecedented societal challenges with each new year. Among these protests, we can mention major social protests and movements such as those by residents of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, or water rights, protests by the people of Khuzestan, or protests by the people of Isfahan, all of which have the same goal of demanding water rights that have been usurped by the regime’s officials and industries working for the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

In the current age, social protests soon take on a political odor

Each one has come as a major shock to the dictatorship, because following the November 2019 protests, any minor movement can quickly turn into a widespread movement against the regime. While all of the protests stem from the dismal social and economic conditions, the administration makes futile attempts to link them to manufactured adversaries and well-intentioned foreigners.

This is so absurd that even official media mocks such comments, which are typically expressed in TV broadcasts by so-called Friday Prayers leaders and government specialists.” Protests are a natural issue, and they originate from the genuine situations that people live with,” a former Interior Ministry official remarked in an interview with Hamdeli daily on January 8, 2022. “In the current age, social protests soon take on a political and security odor.”

Protests are a natural issue, and they originate from the genuine situations that people live with.

The increase of poverty in Iran has entered a new era

Since the 2009 uprisings, the regime has tried everything it can to downplay the protests’ political nature, but to no avail. As a result, government officials and the state media are compelled to admit to these massive problems stemming from the regime’s corrupt political and economic system.”We are in a crisis right now, and our concern should be to get out of this crisis,” regime analyst Hossein Raghfar said in an interview with state TV Channel 2 on January 7.

“This 13th government’s initiatives are all founded on the assumption that we are not in a crisis.” We must realize that we are in the midst of a crisis. Unfortunately, these solutions are designed for a typical case, whereas ours is unique.”In such circumstances, all of the regime’s economic remedies have stalled, and the majority of the population is impoverished. Poverty has reached a point where, according to Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, another regime analyst, “the increase of poverty in Iran has entered a new era.”

“The current rate of poverty in the country has been unprecedented in the last 100 years,” he told the state-run website Eghtesad-e Pooya on January 8. “Over the past three years, the population has doubled under the risk of poverty.”

The current rate of poverty in Iran has been unprecedented in the last 100 years.

Crisis on the way, far more terrible than people imagine

According to the state-run newspaper Mostaghel on January 8, this fact “would produce large and catastrophic crises,” and “if it is not dealt at the proper moment, the repercussions will be difficult for any person in society and the relevant institutions.”Abdolreza Mesri, the regime’s former Minister of Labor, revealed in a TV interview on January 6, 2022, that “there’s a severe crisis on the way, far more terrible than some people imagine.”

The fact is that, among the many problems confronting the country and its people, the socio-economic crisis occupies a unique position, fuelling and expanding protest movements across the country. The mullahs’ dictatorship and its oppressive forces, on the other hand, cannot put an end to these protests because, as soon as one group or sector is suppressed, a new group or sector begins to protest for diverse political, economic, and social reasons.

The fact is that, among the many problems confronting the country and its people, the socio-economic crisis occupies a unique position, fuelling and expanding protest movements across the country.

MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI  (Twitter & Facebook) and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouT