It has long been clear that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei planned to use this month’s presidential elections to consolidate power by ensuring that Judiciary Chief (and mass executioner) Ebrahim Raisi was the victor.

He managed it, but the truth is that this will do nothing to fix the fundamental problems plaguing the country, where the majority of Iranians are living in poverty and unable to meet their basic needs because the regime cannot end its systematic and internal corruption without pulling the whole system down.

Now Raisi will have to reckon with an army of the hungry from a new role and the people are none too happy to see one of the architects of the 1988 massacre as president, so they are even more angry and ready for an uprising than ever. Even the Iranian media are reporting on this.

The state-run Sharq newspaper wrote: “The government has to fix the economic gaps quickly. Otherwise, the government will be in turmoil. This turmoil will make the government more and more dependent on the support of its loyalist base. And this dependence will [increase] antagonism between government loyalists and the underprivileged segments of the society. And anything that is hard and inflexible will soon be broken.”

Meanwhile, the Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote that the country’s “chaotic economic situation” is a major problem that could easily lead to an uprising like that of 2019, which began with over a 300% increase in fuel. It advised that hyperinflation increased 200% over the past four years, which has caused the cost of living to increase. Of course, they explained that none of the candidates could have solved the structural problems that are causing the crises.

The Eghtesad-e Pooya daily said that 30 common food products have risen in price by more than 80%, but these are the top ten worst prices rises:

  • poultry: 140%
  • vegetable oil: 137%
  • imported rice: 132%
  • butter: 112%
  • eggs: 106%
  • chickpeas: 105%
  • lentils: 99%
  • domestic oranges and cotyledons: 93% each

The Iranian Resistance reported that the divide between rich and poor has only deepened, which is making it harder and harder for Iranians to survive, and, of course, these issues affect women and children more.

They wrote: “These statistics with loss of jobs and the Covid-19 pandemic and the repression of the people are further proof of the rampant corruption in the regime, which will not change with a shuffle of the political lineup.”