The Iranian state-run media acknowledged on Monday that Iranian workers are suffering from dire living conditions because of the regime’s policies, while also showing how scared the regime is (or at least should be) of people’s reactions.

The Kar-o Kargar daily wrote: “Based on the statistical trends of declining incomes and the growth of poverty, some estimates suggest that more than one-third of the country’s population today is below the poverty line [and] almost the entire large population of workers lives below the absolute poverty line.”

They attributed this to low or negative economic growth since 2005, a decrease in foreign investment, and the Coronavirus outbreak, but didn’t shy away from pointing out that the regime’s “chaotic policies” created problems, including “a complex system of social and economic problems”.

This, the paper said, caused inflation, unemployment, and inequality to rise, as salaries and purchasing power sunk.

Kar-o Kargar wrote: “Workers’ livelihood is on the verge of annihilation under the pressure of the inflation which devours their salaries and the expenses which exceed their earnings.”

Worse still, the regime is proposing more plans to steal from the people, including the Empowering Social Security Organization plan currently in parliament.

The ILNA news agency explained that the Social Security Organization is in “crisis”, with some experts believing that it’s on the verge of a major crisis and some believing that the crisis is actually engulfing it currently.

After all, the SSO is failing to cover pensioners’ medical expenses or pay them a pension that even meets the poverty line, leaving many in excruciating financial problems.

ILNA reported that the plan mentioned above “does not increase the participation of workers and retirees, and the method of council administration of the organization nor optimizes the management of the organization and reduce the salaries of managers”.

Instead, it actually plans to reduce pensions as well as workers’ salaries, according to the ILNA, even though the current pensions only cover one-third of a pensioner’s living expenses.

Iran daily advised that the increased crises faced by the Iranian people will have “unpredictable” consequences for the regime and warned the mullahs to tread carefully, lest the people rise up in protest.

While Ebtekar daily wrote: “People these days are tired of political struggles. This feeling of abandonment amid crises and disasters will lead to frustration accompanied by anger, which will not have a positive effect. This feeling of abandonment is a dangerous poison that will greatly widen the gap between people and officials. A distance that is very difficult to repair.”