The people of Iran have become much poorer in the past years. The middle class has all but diminished and more than 80 percent of the Iranian people live under the poverty line.
The thought and sight of people sleeping in empty graves and ditches, on roofs, or in abandoned refrigerators batter the conscience of every human being.
Today, they are a daily sight everywhere in Iran, under the rule of the mullahs. The regime’s officials and media talk and write about these people easily and without shame.
According to the state-run Jahan-e Sanat on August 9, “official reports indicate the living conditions of all sectors of society have deteriorated.”
“The poverty line last year increased by 38% compared to 2019—high inflation in food and housing. Housing and food are the two only concerns of poor households. This has been cited as one of the main reasons for the increase in the poverty line over the past year,” Jahan-e Sanat wrote.
According to Jahan-e Sanat, “Considering the living conditions of households in the last decade, it is clear that the growth rate of poverty has been faster than the growth rate of wages in all years, and the wage gap and poverty line reached 145% by the end of the 2010s.”
Jahan-e Sanat predicted that “considering the sharp rise in the poverty line last year, and due to the lack of a commensurate increase in incomes and the lack of high economic growth, it is likely that more households will fall below the poverty line. We will see an increase in the poverty rate this year.”
Among all sectors of society, Iranian workers endure more pressure due to the regime’s anti-labor policies. “Now there is a gap of 6 million Tomans between the living expenses and workers’ wage. In the last four months of the year, famine has become dominant in workers’ life. All the workers are in trouble,” wrote the semi-official ILNA News Agency on August 6.
“In this situation, families can not provide the protein, dairy, and beverages they need. Our economy is becoming like Venezuela. The Venezuelan economy is completely bankrupt. If we cannot solve our problems in these areas, we will follow the same path as Venezuela. Thus, the devaluation of the national currency, inflation, unemployment, etc., will be greater than now,” ILNA adds, quoting a member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce.
Iran’s wealth
With over 150,000 million barrels of proven oil reserves, Iran owns the third or fourth largest oil reserve (based on different types of estimation) among oil-producing countries. Only second to Russia, Iran has also one the largest gas reserves in the world.
Iran is also ranked among 15 major mineral-rich countries, having the world’s largest zinc reserves, second largest copper reserves, 9th largest iron reserves, 10th largest uranium reserves, etc. The list goes on.
According to a study by the Iranian Regime’s Islamic Parliament Research Center, while accounting only for one percent of the world population, Iran has over seven percent of its minerals.
But despite all its riches, more than 80 percent of the nation lives below the poverty line, and the middle class has essentially disappeared.
19 million Iranians live in slums, 7.4 million children are deprived of education, 25% of the youth are unemployed, workers have lost 75% of their economic capabilities, and nearly 1,000 children under the age of 3 are abandoned every year. These are just a few of the numerous consequences of rampant poverty in Iran.
Another vivid result of poverty has been the astonishing phenomenon of many Iranians willing to sell their kidneys and other body organs, and even mothers pre-selling their unborn fetus. This is parallel to the growing phenomenon of child labor, a swelling number of homeless people roaming the streets and people even resorting to making homes out of graves.
Where is all the money going?
According to the Iranian regime’s figures, Iran has had a $66 billion income from oil exports and $32.3 billion in non-oil exports. Where has all the money gone?
The regime continues to expand budgets allocated for meddling in Middle East countries, boosting its nuclear and ballistic missile drives, and launching dozens of military and security forces imposing an intense atmosphere of internal crackdown.
Iran spends $15-20 billion a year to fuel the war in Syria. It spends $25-30 billion a year to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and to acquire illicit material and equipment for the nuclear program. It spends $100 million per year supporting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Companies owned by Khamenei and the IRGC account for 50% of Iran’s GDP, half of which is spent on warmongering in the region.
