Iran’s economy is heading to no man’s land. The country’s economic crises are tuning into major political obstacles for the Iranian regime and have reached the stage beyond repair. Problems are increasing, congesting, and are becoming incurable.

Therefore, the regime will face new social upheavals, but this time it will be led by starving people. This situation is the result of the “expanding government influence over the past four decades,” as the regime’s media have stated.

In a recent publication, the state-run daily Jahan-e Sanat wrote, “Officials are aware of the social ills, but their strategy is to take advantage of the country’s impoverished situation. The impoverishment of the people is a divine gift for government officials. The people in power are also the ones who have taken the country hostage.”

Starting with the repression of freedom, this crisis has now reached the people’s livelihood. The crisis is so serious that even Iran’s state media are admitting that “poverty” is a “policy” to keep the regime stable.

Jahan-e Sanat added, “The impoverishment of the people, the politicization of poverty, and the expansion of government influence have been pursued for the past four decades. At the same time, poverty has spread, and people’s daily troubles have increased so that they have no longer the opportunity to study and criticize the government’s performance.”

This situation brings to mind the claim, “when social crises pass the limits, the rulers will have no way forward and no answer to the crises, even if they want to.”

The authors of the regime’s politics and economics play the leading role in exacerbating the crisis. Jahan-e Sanat confessed that ‘high prices’, and the confusing situation of the ‘preferred currency’ are guided by the regime and added, “The government is slaughtering the economy instead of surgery. The preferred currency, instead of being a way to control inflation and manage the foreign exchange market, has become a tool for benefiting groups to provide large rent-seeking for themselves and their affiliated entities. Statistics and evidence also show billions in rent-seeking since this currency was allocated.”

The regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi, who is positioned to be the savior of the country’s economy, has become cancer for the country’s future prospects, thanks to the state-controlled mafia. The Iranian people are getting poorer by the day.

Jahan-e Sanat further stated, “By the time the government of Ebrahim Raisi came to power, consumer and essential items had reached several times their original price during that period. Many income groups cannot afford some items such as meat and rice, and the middle class has fallen to the poor.”

As usual, the regime lies about its decisions. At first, officials claimed that they will not eliminate the subsidy for bread, but a few days later, the state media wrote that the “elimination of bread subsidies is inevitable.”

On May 7, the state-run Arman daily, wrote, “At first, the officials started the denied and the head of the program organization announced that there would be no change in the price of bread, but despite all these denials, the price of bread will also increase.”

One of the contradictions that have created this situation is that the country’s economy is in favor of the regime and its rule, rather than for the welfare of the people. Therefore, this has created a disaster that has become insolvable under the rule of the mullahs. The regime will face protests by starving people in the subsequent months, and this time, without any chance to overcome them like the November 2019 protests.