The Iranian economy is in tatters. Iranians are seeing inflation, and therefore prices, rising out of control. Since the regime’s presidential election last month, the state-run media has begun to admit some parts of the economic crisis and how the regime created the issue and keep making it worse while warning the mullahs that if the crisis continues it could spell the end of the regime.

On Wednesday, the state-run Eghtesad-e Pouya daily wrote: “The economic situation of the country is unhealthier and more chaotic than it can be imagined. It has dangerous and harmful social, political, and moral effects and consequences and should not be ignored. This chronic disease is spreading before the eyes of the authorities.”

The paper acknowledged that “inflation and the skyrocketing prices” are ruining people’s lives because the majority of the country live in poverty; advising that the recent increase in workers’ salaries was far below inflation because they were based on statistics from the year before.

Eghtesad-e Pouya wrote: “The poverty line is determined in the society, but the working society operates with a salary of 2 .6 million Tomans. Even if workers receive bonuses, their salary still does not exceed about 3.3 million tomans. In other words, workers’ salaries are about 7 million tomans below the poverty line.”

The paper further advised that Iranian workers lack job security, are often on minimum wage, and their salaries and benefits are paid sporadically at best, which means that they cannot meet living expenses with their current level of income because rent can be 50% of a worker’s income.

So, what caused the increase in inflation and thereby the rise in prices?

Well, the Eskenas daily explained that the current high inflation is caused by the Central Bank printing a vast number of banknotes in 2020. They cited the Statistics Centre as saying that inflation had reached 43% in June 2021, while liquidity growth has been an average of 8.27% from 2011 until today.

Eskenas daily wrote: “The worrying trend of rising inflation, along with the collapse of economic structures, has raised concerns that the new government may face a major challenge.”

In no uncertain terms, this means that the regime is responsible for the current economic crisis.  Despite promises by new Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi about reforming the economy, nothing will change while the mullahs remain in power because of institutionalized corruption that widens the divide between the haves and have nots. This has created a powder keg society, where people are ready to explode at the next spark.

The Eghtesad-e Pouya wrote: “Officials should not ignore embezzlers and economic terrorists and should deal with them. You cannot ignore their cases and only give promises. The negative effects would be extremely harmful to the society and undermine the [regime’s] integrity.”