“Poverty is on the rise in Tabriz’s outskirts” (a major city in northwest Iran). Alireza Monadi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), recently stated, “Some people are literally leasing bread.”While most people in the West “lease” their cars, other large purchases, or use their credit cards to buy food or other items, millions of Iranians are so poor that they cannot afford even a few loaves of bread.
It’s not the first time regime officials have mentioned people “leasing” bread. During a visit to a city last year, Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said he, too, had witnessed people purchasing bread on lease. However, the fact that regime officials and state media are bringing this up again indicates that the phenomenon is spreading throughout the country. “Lease bread is the new norm in many cities, including the capital,” state media acknowledges. On October 21, 2020, the Arman daily reported that bakeries are seen with large notebooks registering their long list of customers buying bread on lease.
It’s amazing to think that we’re in the twenty-first century and that people in large metropolis cities are still buying bread on credit. Particularly when we consider that Iran has the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves and fourth-largest crude oil reserves. Even more alarming is the fact that we already know that these admissions by regime officials and state media are just the tip of the iceberg.
According to reports from inside Iran, some people have not eaten meat in five years. Or a mother who is unable to feed her five children and is considering “selling one” in order to feed the other four, but is unsure which one to sell. While the thought is heart-breaking, an increasing number of families in Iran are selling their children.
Theft is on the rise in Iran as well. According to a piece published on March 12 by the state-run Hamdeli daily, 50 percent of small theft cases are “first-timers,” including stealing shoes from front doors, clothes hanging on a line to dry, and even sewer lids from the streets. Since the last famine in Iran in 1917, which lasted about two years, such a disastrous situation has never occurred in the last 100 years. It is not an exaggeration to say that the mullahs’ regime in Iran is imposing a new type of famine on the Iranian people.
Again, we’re talking about a country with eight times the global average in terms of natural resources. It’s worth remembering that Iran’s oil revenues have recently surpassed $1 trillion.
The Iranian people, on the other hand, have received nothing but utter poverty, misery, and devastation as a result of this massive God-given wealth. The regime’s current oil minister admits that the country’s oil revenues have increased by around 250 percent over the previous year.
On April 9, the state-owned Hamdeli newspaper posed an intriguing question: “Why are prices continuing to rise despite rising oil revenues?” During his Nowruz speech, the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded to this question, emphasizing that such revenue should not be used for people’s “comfort and recreation.”
Indeed, such funds should be directed toward “strengthening the foundations,” which means funding the regime’s massive domestic crackdown machine, nuclear weapons program, ballistic missile program, and regional terrorism.
Despite this ominous situation, regime officials understand better than anyone that such conditions cannot continue, and that skyrocketing prices will almost certainly lead to an increasingly restive and enraged society that could explode at any time.
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI (Twitter & Facebook) and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
