As Social Problems Increase in Iran, State-Run Media Warn of Possible Uprisings

Written by
Mansoureh Galestan

Iran, IRGC, Iran Protests, MEK, NCRI, uprising
The November 2019 nationwide uprising in Iran
As Iranian people continue grappling with various social problems due to the regime’s mismanagement, state-run media warn the clerical regime of a possible uprising.

Recently, the government of Hassan Rouhani presented its budget for 2021. Many economic experts, even within the regime, have called this budget a dream or hallucination. In the very same budget, the regime has increased the budget of military and so-called “defense,” or rather terrorist, organizations by over 50 percent.

The budget of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), which is a terrorist organization, has increased by 58 percent. Its budget last year was around twenty-four thousand and three hundred thirty-five tomans, and this year, the IRGC will have an estimated budget of thirty-eight thousand five hundred and sixty-four tomans according to the state-run Diyarmirza news agency.

“Social harms these days are rising. More people are under the poverty line, and we can see absolute poverty in every corner of towns,” wrote Hamdeli daily on Sunday.

“According to official statistics, between 20 and 21 million people in our country live in places that do not have the minimum public services, between 10 and 11 million of them live in informal settlements. Public services such as health, education, treatment [for those living in shanty towns and slums], according to the budget bill, has a negative growth of 12.9 percent compared to the last year,” Hamdeli wrote.

“Families who have several disables are unable to pay their unbearable medical and caring costs. So, they turn to organizations like the State Welfare Organization. When these organizations do not have a sufficient budget, how could they answer these people? Many experts believe the 2021 budget has paid little attention to social harms,” Hamdeli added.

Since corruption is institutionalized in the regime, these so-called social institutions use a small portion of their budget to help the people in need. In 2014, a state-affiliated blog wrote that “The [State Welfare] organization’s overall level of service coverage is about 20 percent.”

 

Apart from poverty, the Iranian people are grappling with Covid-19. Due to the regime’s deliberate inaction in controlling the diseases, Covid-19 has become a painful crisis for Iran’s people. According to the Iranian Resistance, over 184,000 people have so far died from the novel coronavirus.

As many countries are about to start vaccination, the regime’s officials refuse to give a clear answer to people. Once they say they will purchase vaccines from other countries, then deny it and say they are producing a vaccine. In other words, they are trying to continue using Covid-19 and its mass casualties as a barrier to possible uprisings.

As the Iranian people see that the world has entered the phase of rejecting Covid-19 and public vaccination, they will demand the same.

“If neighboring countries are vaccinated, and we are still waiting, social resilience will end, and there will be street protests,” said Mohammad Reza Mahboub Far, one of the regime’s health officials, on Sunday.

But are the state-run media and the regime’s officials concerned about people’s health and wellbeing? They are worried about their own “security.”

“By what logic do we reduce the budget that is to be used to raise welfare indicators in the suburbs when we know that many of the post-revolutionary social uprisings started in these areas? We know that social harms are tied to the security of society,” wrote Hamdeli daily in this regard.

The two major Iran protests in 2018 and 2019 rattled the regime’s foundation and became the mullahs’ nightmare, triggered due to the economic and social problems. So, the regime’s officials and state-run media warn each other of this bitter experience.

“Remember what we are doing. We are reducing the budget [to help those areas] where we suffered from. The protests in 2018 were by those who had livelihood issues. Not paying attention to this issue will increase social dissatisfaction and naturally raise concerns,” Hamdeli added.

 

As Social Problems Increase in Iran, State-Run Media Warn of Possible Uprisings