With the Iranian economy completely bankrupt, no plans have been put in place by the government to resolve the problem. This was admitted recently by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Majlis (parliament) during a meeting with the members of the Majlis Research Center and considering the regime has consistently claimed that the economy is flourishing, these remarks are surprising, to say the least.

In his remarks, Ghalibaf tried to blame elements beyond his control for the state of the economy and attempted to justify many of the regime’s destructive policies.

Analyzing the reasons for Iran’s economic bankruptcy, Ghalibaf admitted that after four decades of ruling the country, the mullahs’ regime still doesn’t know ‘what is the main problem of the society’ and can’t agree on the ‘priorities of the country’. And naturally, they can’t decide on which problem to fix first.

He openly stated that due to the extent of the economic issues, not even the regime’s desperate need for sanctions relief, or oil sales will be able to fix Iran’s problems. He said, “Oil revenue will not address our needs and it is clear that a budget plan that is based on oil sales will not be the right path for us.”

Many regime officials have previously been quick to blame international sanctions for all their economic problems, but with Ghalibaf’s remarks going against the consensus belief, it is apparent that there is opposing discourse within the foundation of the regime, which cannot bode well for them in the long run.

Ghalibaf further stated that the regime has no long-term plan and that they are ‘living by the day’, based on the studies that he has conducted.

This is an implicit acknowledgment that the regime does not have any economic strategy, and as it has proven in four decades, its only strategy is to do whatever it takes to keep the mullahs’ rule afloat.

Another acknowledgment by Ghalibaf was that none of the regime’s budget plans over the past few years have borne any success. These remarks came just a week after the regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi presented the new budget bill for the next Persian year of 1401 (beginning in March 2022) to the Majlis.

He said, “One of our problems today is legislations that are not implementable. We shouldn’t pass laws that can’t be implemented, because if we do so, we will be the first lawbreakers.”

Further remarks stated that management within the government is at its worst state to date. As an example, Ghalibaf discussed Iran’s automobile industry, which as a business decision was perhaps their worst idea as it has done nothing but bring up debts for the regime.

Ghalibaf said, “According to remarks by the Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, the debt of the car manufacturing industry has reached 850 trillion rials, and according to other estimates, the real figure is 1,850 trillion rials. It is natural that when managers don’t pay out of their own pockets and only manage, they will cause debts for the public coffers.”