While health insurance appears to be the only source of support for those infected with the virus, it appears that officials have forgotten that article 29 of the regime’s constitution states that insurance and health services are provided free of charge to all citizens and that they should be able to use them without restriction.

The rial plunged once again, dropping to an exchange rate of 170,000 rials to one U.S. dollar on Tuesday. The rate for euros was 185,000 rials for one euro. Iran’s currency has been in free fall for the past year, due to the country’s economic unrest, according to a recent statement from Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the

.

Regime President Hassan Rouhani appointed a new Central Bank chief in July and promised as recently as August 15th that Iranian currency would stabilize. The rial is still dropping in value, though, as is the “Bahar-e Azadi” gold coin, which was trading at 47.4 million rials as of Tuesday, according to the state-run ISNA news agency.

A Crisis Rooted in Government Corruption

The Jahan-e San’at daily described the source of Iran’s currency crisis, writing, “The starting point of this economic fiasco is rooted in the government’s currency policies.

The primary problem is that regime agencies and the IRGC have a monopoly over Iran’s oil and petrochemical export industry, which allows them to profit from the currency crisis. The regime set the currency rate at 4,200 rials per U.S. dollar. Individuals associated with the regime purchase U.S. dollars at this rate and then sell them on the black market for much higher prices. On Wednesday, prices on the black market soared to 200,000 rials per U.S. dollar. Those within the Iranian regime have no personal financial incentive to resolve the economic crisis because they profit from it.

Iran’s state-run media agrees that the regime is to blame for the currency crisis, as do the regime’s experts. In a recent interview with a state-run media outlet, one of the regime’s own experts said this: “The banks and financial institutions owe the Central Bank at least $23.8 billion (based on the government fixed rate of 42,000 rial/dollar) and far more to the people. The government and the parliament decided to increase currency prices to provide for this budget.”

Skyrocketing Prices and the Death of the Middle Class

The result of the devaluation of Iran’s national currency is a surge in prices around the country, which has drastically increased the price of necessities. One of the first consequences of skyrocketing prices is an increase in the number of people living below the poverty line, say regime experts.

Currently, more than 80 percent of Iran’s population lives below the poverty line. Meanwhile, those who buy up U.S. currency at the fixed rate and sell it on the black market get richer. The gap between rich and poor widens and the middle class shrinks more every time the rial rises.

Rouhani claims that the currency devaluation will lead to increased exports and additional revenues, with a boom in non-oil exports. Even if this statement were possible or true, it could not possibly offset the economic losses caused by the continued devaluation of the rial.

In addition, the devaluation of the rial impacts inflation and production and raises the prices of imports. Production is already an issue in Iran, with numerous factory closures causing production delays, as well as months-long delays in salaries for workers.

A Democratic Alternative

The economic crisis has caused many Iranians to take to the streets to protest over the past year. The current uprising, which began last December and continues today, began because of economic concerns and soon spread to widespread calls for regime change. Because all of the people of Iran are affected by the regime’s corruption and mismanagement, people from all walks of life have joined the call for a democratic alternative to the mullahs’ oppressive rule and have joined the MEK in the fight for a free Iran.

Staff Writer

 

 

Iran has a population of more than 80 million people and is the 18th most populous country in the world. It has the second largest landmass in the Middle East. Yet 40% of Iranians currently live below the poverty line, and 90% of the population struggles with poverty in one way or another, from water shortages, lack of access to economic opportunities, unpaid wages, and poor living conditions.

We believe it is possible to eradicate poverty, unemployment, shanty dwelling, water shortage and environmental calamities. But, before anything else, the trampled political rights, specifically the right to sovereignty of the Iranian people, must be restored and revived#Iran pic.twitter.com/R6nQVBlS16

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 18, 2018

In the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), only Saudi Arabia has a larger economy than Iran, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 of $412.2 billion. According to an October 2017 report by the World Bank, Iran has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest crude oil reserve.Dr. Hossein Raghfar, a professor of Economics at Alzahra University in Tehran told the state-run Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) in an April 7th interview that a family of four living in an urban area with a monthly income of fewer than forty million rials (approximately $1000) is living in poverty.

Iran is the only country in the world that allows its citizens to legally sell their organs. Desperate Iranians sell organs at the dozens of organ supply units spread throughout the country to provide for their families’ basic needs. The regime regulates the practice, with a government foundation set up to register and match buyers and sellers and to set prices on each organ for sale. Some organs fetch higher prices than others, and different prices are given for kidneys, livers, blood, corneas, bone marrow, etc.

It is common to find signs attached to walls in the cities of Iran advertising the sale of organs. This is while the criminal mullah’s who are ruling the oil-rich country has dedicated the resources to prop up Assad’s dictatorship in Syria, support terrorism in the region, and to develop nuclear weapon’s program, while a large portion of the country’s income fill’s regime official’s coffers due to vast corruption.

Some Iranians are driven to even more desperate measures by poverty. Social media is filled with videos and images of unemployment, suicide, and self-immolation on the streets of Iran.

Stories abound of Iranians who have been driven to suicide by poverty. In Abadan, a 12-year-old boy named Maysam hanged himself a day after his mother sold his mobile phone and bike in order to pay the rent on their home.

An elderly woman in Varamin, in Tehran Province, threw herself in front of a bulldozer to prevent the destruction of her home by the municipality.

The middle class has largely disappeared in Iran, a phenomenon which some sociologists refer to as

‘proletarianization.’ In essence, poverty has spread so much that the middle class has been pushed into the lower classes.

The widespread uprising that began last December started because of dissatisfaction with economic conditions in Iran. Joblessness, poverty, and corruption by the regime led the people to take to the streets, and protests soon turned to cries for regime change. The solution to ending the bizarre economic condition in Iran is to end the corrupt clerical regime, which has caused the current epidemic of widespread poverty through their corruption and looting of the country’s resources.

Staff Writer