On Wednesday, August 21, the Iranian regime arrested two members of parliament on charges of corruption in what is widely seen as an attempt to cover up its institutionalized corruption and divert public opinion from corruption at the highest echelons of the state.
The two arrested officials are Fereydoon Ahmadi, ranking member of the Industries and Mines commissions of the Parliament (Majlis), and Mohammad Azizi, a member of this commission and the deputy of the Emamzadegan faction of Parliament.
The arrests come as Iranian people continue to grapple with poverty. As the regime’s statistics show, the price of lamb meat has increased by 104.9 percent, and has reached 967,500 rials per kilogram. Veal meat has increased by 113 percent and is now 872,600 rials.
The price of poultry increased by 9.65 percent, averaging at 127,300 rials per kilogram.
The average income of an Iranian worker is less than 13 million rials per month, and most of it goes for rent, school, and commuting expenses, so they can’t afford meat for months.
Meanwhile, the regime’s Supreme Leader has a personal hedge fund, used for terror and oppression, called the “Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam” – Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam – with total assets of about $95 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
Corruption is the main reason for the Iranian people’s poverty. When Salar Agha-Khani, a former Iranian Central Bank official, flees the country with $200 million in one night, how could we possibly blame the international community for the Iranian people’s economic woes.
When corruption is institutionalized, with or without sanctions, the Iranian people stay poor and the regime’s officials and affiliates live a life of luxury. So the solution is nothing but regime change by the people of Iran.
