“They will be hit hard by the United States”, threatens the US president
The cost of living in Iran has been at the center of Iranians’ concerns, who were quick to rise up against the Government demanding an end to the widespread increase in prices across the country. While inflation is at historic levels, the revolt takes to the streets in large urban centers and is already spreading to rural areas – where the economic crisis is most acute.
“This is the revolt of the periphery against the center: people who have no representation in the system and who no one sees,” says Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian political economy analyst, in an interview with
Growing anti-regime unrest has given rise to the biggest wave of protests in Iran in several years, which has been going on for about a week. Slogans against the regime echo throughout the country, calling for the “death of the Islamic Republic” and Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The demonstrations are notable for their violence and clashes between protesters and security forces, who have been accused of using live ammunition.
The most recent balance points to at least 14 deaths, including members of the police forces, and dozens of injuries.
The basis of popular demands is the fight against hyperinflation, currency devaluation and economic stagnation. Inflation “is in the double digits”, but for residents of small towns it reaches three digits “because their main staple food is bread”, explains analyst Saeed Laylaz.
Since June, the currency has lost around 40% of its value and annual inflation rose to 42% in December. In the same month, food inflation rose 72% and the price of bread was one of the most affected, with a rise of 113%.
Jobs have also become scarce, but the big problem is “guaranteeing enough food”, says a citizen, Leila, speaking to the Financial Times. This 30-year-old university student lives with her sister in Borujerd, in the province of Lorestan – one of the poorest regions in Iran – and her mother’s monthly pension, of around 111 euros, is her only support, which is barely enough to buy food and the necessary medicines. “Our problem is bread”, emphasizes this young Iranian woman, who also points to the lack of jobs as a flaw in the country.
Sarhad Karami, a poet from the western Kurdish city of Shahabad in Kermanshah province, recently posted a video on Instagram showing alleged injuries caused by rubber bullets fired by security forces during the protests. “We just said that we are hungry”, revealed the protester, leaving a question in the air: “Is this the answer to all the sacrifices these people made? Rubber bullets?”.
Following the capture of Iran’s ally Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump once again warned the Iranian Executive that he would “come to the aid” of the protesters if Tehran responded with violence to the protests. “If they start killing people like they did in the past, they will be hit hard by the United States,” the US president told reporters this Monday.
Although the authorities have recognized the protesters’ complaints as legitimate, they insist on attributing responsibility for the chaos to foreign interference, in this case American. The country’s police chief said on Sunday that the “leaders” of protests active on social media and in the streets were captured and confessed to having received “dollars”.
As a way of contesting US – and Israeli – support for social unrest, the head of the Iranian judiciary declared that no “cessions” would be made to the protesters.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Iran would “get hit very hard by the United States,” if authorities kill protesters during the ongoing nationwide protests
“We’re watching it [the protest] very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think…
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Speaking to the Financial Times, sociologist Taghi Azad Aramaki says that a paradigm shift would require “difficult and painful” reforms, as well as “large-scale measures”.
In response to the population’s despair, the reformist government of President Masoud Pezeshkian broke its silence and took steps to overhaul the subsidy system and improve the food voucher regime. Under the new plan, around 90% of the 88 million inhabitants will receive a voucher worth 10 million Iranian rials per month, the equivalent of 203 euros. The Economy Minister also promised low-interest bank loans for the poorest families.
In Lorestan, the measures continue to appear insufficient. The region has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, according to one of its deputies, Reza Sepahvand. “High unemployment, combined with hyperinflation, has led to a high level of poverty in the province,” he told the press last month.
For Leila, support comes late and is inadequate to reality. Even with the right to 30 million riyals per month, his family is left with unmet needs. “This is nothing. What about the rest of our needs? What about my mother’s medicine? We are no longer just ‘poor’. We are far below the level of poverty we were used to.”
