Iran: Raisi’s Government Is Trapped in Its Own Lies

 

Written by
Shamsi Saadati

The people of Iran, especially the most underprivileged parts of the population, are paying the price of the regime’s mismanagement of the economy.
Since becoming the Iranian regime’s president, Ebrahim Raisi has only bragged about economic revitalization and made hollow promises. His ministers also follow in his footsteps. But Iranians know that when the fox preaches, they should take care of their geese, and these empty promises mean more economic pressure.

After his ridiculous order to eradicate poverty in two weeks and ordering prices to stop rising, Raisi got back on track with fresh lies and absurd claims. In a meeting with his cabinet last week, Raisi claimed the inflation has “disappeared.” He also expressed dissatisfaction with skyrocketing prices and ordered the “monitoring and finding the root” of the soaring prices.

Abbas Tabesh, deputy minister of Labor, on April 13, ordered: “any increase of prices should be revised by tonight. Prices should be the same as last year.”

State-run media and officials also mocked these lies and gestures.

“People see and intimately feel the rising inflation and unemployment rate. You gain nothing but people’s laughter when you announce these unrealistic statistics!” commented Alireza Pakfetrat, MP, on figures given by members of Raisi’s cabinet on April 16, as quoted by the state-run Eghtesad-online website.

“Eight months have passed since [Raisi’s] government was formed, after giving tons of economic promises. Yet, it is fairly disappointing that [Raisi] only expresses discontent with the high costs of basic necessities and orders investigations,” wrote the state-run Mardom Salarie daily on April 14.

“Raisi wants to resolve problems with ‘orders.’ These unfounded orders only demonstrate that problems are not deeply studied and [the regime] is bereft of any solutions. Raisi has issued many orders in the past eight months, but has he thought about who will implement these orders, and what would be their results?” the paper adds.

In its article on April 15, the state-run Javan daily, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), also mocked Raisi’s words, emphasizing that “Skyrocketing prices need no investigations. They are rooted in your colleagues’ mismanagement.”

Iran’s financial calamity is not a truth lying at the bottom of the well. The state-run media and officials acknowledge some engineered yet shocking statistics about the country’s economic crunch and people’s plight.

 

“The poverty rate in 2019 reached about 32%, which was the highest rate in 10 years. High inflation, especially since 2018, the economic downturn, and the steady decline in per capita national income have caused Iranian households to repeatedly experience a decline in welfare in the past decade, and finally, in 2019, about 26.5 million people are below the poverty line,” the state-run Farhikhtegan, an outlet close to Raisi’s government, acknowledged on April 13.

The paper then quotes the regime’s Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare statistics, acknowledging that “the ratio of the population below the poverty line to the total population had risen from 22% in 2011 to 20% by 2015. But this rate reached 32% in 2019. Naturally, that number has increased in 2020 and 2021.”

But it is naïve to think that Raisi and his ministers are unaware of the consequences of their empty gestures. The regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, appointed Raisi as president and handpicked his cabinet from the IRGC thugs, only to close ranks in his fragile regime and increase oppression to contain the volatile society amid international isolation. The increasing numbers of executions and its hostile acts toward the international community, such as its race toward a nuclear bomb, are testaments to the fact that the regime is not willing to address the country’s economic woes.

Besides, by giving hollow promises, Raisi and his lieutenants cover up their disastrous policies, such as banknote printing, embezzlement, and ineptitude.

In this regard, the state-run Mardom Salari, on April 14, wrote: “Raisi’s policy is, in fact, a centralized state economy in the name of fighting poverty. By violating the independence of the central bank and borrowing from it, the government digs its hands deeper into people’s pockets and contributes to economic turmoil and increasing poverty.”

Since the regime’s central bank does not have enough reserves, and the country’s low income is squandered on terrorism, the regime continues banknote printing. Thus, the liquidity grows, and the inflation increases due to Iran’s low production rate.

Raisi’s 2021-2022 budget also suffers from a huge deficit, so he would have to increase banknote printing as Iran’s Central Bank cannot lend out any money. Raisi has also based his budget’s revenue on taxes, and even if the regime squeezes people of their last cents, it cannot compensate for the budget deficit.

“Tax revenues in the budget bill are set at three times the approved budget revenues of last year. The Parliamentary Consolidation Commission added 20 percent, which makes tax revenue a total illusion and increases the budget deficit,” Mardom Salarie daily went on in this regard.

To read more on budge, see our exclusive report.

In a nutshell, Raisi’s government wouldn’t resolve Iran’s economic crises. It adds to them. In return, the country’s financial calamity only adds to people’s disdain toward the regime, and Raisi’s lies and promises are like pouring gasoline on the fire of discontent in Iran.

“Our society goes from one crisis to another. This cycle reaches a point where tons of crises force society to riot, bringing down [the regime’s] foundations,” the state-run Hamdeli daily warned on April 16.

In other words, not just Raisi but the entire regime is trapped in lies and corruption.

 

Iran: Raisi’s Government Is Trapped in Its Own Lies

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