According to expert estimates, a staggering 30% of Iran’s population is now grappling with the consequences of widespread poverty, rendering them incapable of procuring and consuming wholesome meals throughout the day.
Simultaneously, the state-run newspaper Donya-e Eghtesad, referencing the Tehran Chamber of Commerce’s report, emphasizes the precarious state of food security. Even within higher-income deciles, the allocation of household expenses for entertainment and education has markedly decreased. The ability of households in the lowest decile to afford food has plummeted significantly, with their monthly expenditure on food dipping below 600,000 tomans.
Amidst this challenging scenario, statistics and reports underscore that even among classes with incomes surpassing the poverty line, the provision of complete daily meals has become an increasingly pressing concern.
Contrastingly, an examination of public speeches by senior officials of the regime over the past six months, including Ali Khamenei, the regime’s leader, Ebrahim Raisi, the president, and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of the Parliament, reveals a conspicuous absence of discourse on the deteriorating economic conditions faced by Iranian citizens. There is a stark silence on the escalating threat of poverty engulfing households.
Donya-e Eghtesad’s report posits that, assuming a household comprises three members, the average monthly food consumption per person amounts to approximately 200,000 tomans. This is equivalent to the wholesale price of two cartons of eggs. The report further notes that households are allocating a diminishing share of their expenses to clothing, household appliances, healthcare, transportation, communication, entertainment, and education.
Farday-e Eghtesad website adds another dimension, asserting that one criterion of poverty lies in the inability to afford a healthy diet—a diet meeting the essential life requirements at the lowest possible cost. Shockingly, estimates reveal that 30% of Iran’s population falls into this category, a figure surpassing comparable rates in countries like Turkey and Mexico. The concern intensifies when comparing trends over the past few years, revealing a near doubling of this ratio in Iran from 2017 to 2021, a trend not observed globally or even in the Middle East and North Africa.
Utilizing data from the World Bank and the Hertforth research method, the cost of a healthy diet is gauged by the website Our World in Data. This index represents the least expensive set of foods meeting dietary guidelines. Comparatively, Turkey reports only 6% of its population unable to afford a minimum healthy diet, while Iran faces an alarming rate of 30%. This doubling of the population unable to access a healthy diet correlates with a significant increase in the poverty line, as documented by the Ministry of Welfare’s poverty monitoring report.
Previous warnings from the regime Parliament Research Center highlighted three alarming phenomena: an increase in the share of food in total household expenditure, a decline in total household food—indicative of reduced calorie intake—and a deterioration in the quality of calorie intake among Iranian households.
Recent revelations further underscore the economic strain on citizens, with a 15% decrease in citizens’ demand for dairy products in the first six months of the year attributed to a 30% increase in prices and diminished purchasing power. Economist Morteza Afghah paints a grim picture, suggesting that over 30 million Iranians currently live in absolute poverty, struggling to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing rent.
Adding to the chorus, the chairman of the Iranian Dental Society asserts that the majority of Iranians defer dental visits until absolutely necessary due to the prohibitive costs involved—a testament to the pervasive financial challenges faced by the population.
This all is while the Iranian regime still persists in its efforts to extend financial and weapons support to militant groups in the region amid all the people’s dire economic and living conditions. In Tehran’s strategic pursuit, it has leveraged a network of over a dozen militias and terror groups across the Middle East, establishing outposts globally to sow instability, orchestrate attacks, and advance the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.
These groups, some even harboring their own political entities for the purpose of infiltrating or assuming control over local governments, operate under the auspices of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
To safeguard Iran’s fundamentalist regime, the IRGC’s specialized unit, the elite Quds Force, has played a pivotal role in providing arms, training, and financial backing to militias and political movements throughout the Middle East, extending its influence into Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Yemen.
