Meat, Dairy Prices Increase Amid Regime’s Inability To Curb Inflation
Food prices are soaring in Iran in the year dubbed by the Supreme Leader as “the year to control inflation.”
Food prices are soaring in Iran in the year dubbed by the Supreme Leader as “the year to control inflation.”
The price of mutton has passed 5,000,000 rials a kilogram (about $10) and some other items like edible oil and dairy products have jumped 30 percent in recent weeks.
According to officials, the monthly minimum wage of less than $150 only suffices for nine days of a family's livelihood.
Farmers and ranchers say if they do not increase the prices of meat and dairy products, they have toclose down their businesses soon.
However, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed Sunday that to resolve the economic woes, the country needs to have nuclear energy, but he declined to say how nuclear energy can help controllingthe inflation.
A few months into the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, when inflation was around 40 percent, the High Council of Labor increased the minimum wage by an unprecedented 57 percent in early 2022 after two consecutive years of very high inflation. At the time minimum wage almost equaled $220.
However, the rial lost half of its value in the past nine months and the minimum wage, without housing allowance, has dropped to around $120 a month.
On the other hand, reformist clerics suggested that the government had better stop putting religious pressure on citizens to “guide them to heaven.”
The Imam in Tehran, Mohamad-Javad Haj-Aliakbari, said that "the enemy" is spreading nihilism in Iran, adding that "In a year when we are getting close to the Majles [parliament] and Assembly of Experts elections, the enemy is trying to sow despair and heresy in Iran."
The term enemy, regularly used by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his loyalists, refers to the United States. By making this statement the Friday Imam was attributing Iranian women's defiance to compulsory hijab to a conspiracy by the United States.
Iranian clerics and regime officials invariably attribute their failures in various cultural, political and economic areas to the United States or the pre-revolution government that was replaced by the Islamic Republic 44 years ago.
The Tehran Imam said the West is waging a cultural onslaught against Iran to stop the country's progress in areas such as missile development. Meanwhile he accused Iranian women of not being chaste enough as they follow the West's teachings.
In another development Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayers Imam of Mashad said: "The Islamic revolution's aim was not simply feeding the people and improving the economy. We did not simply want to give political control to the pious and expel US mercenaries from Iran. The aim was to allow the people to live freely."
However, Alamolhoda. a staunch supporter of compulsory hijab and one of the biggest defenders of clerical rule in Iran did not explain how the Islamic Republic or his own ideology would let people live freely. Meanwhile he praised the Islamic Republic's "achievement" in developing a “supersonic missile” that can reach Israel in less than 10 minutes.
Alamolhoda is the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi and enjoys some influence with Khamenei.
As if he was responding to Alamolhoda,Sunni Leader Mawlana Abdolhamid, who led the Friday prayers in Zahedan, said, "Good for you if you can make missiles, but you need to feed the people first." His comment was a reference to Iran's economic crisis that has been pushing millions of Iranians under the poverty line particularly during the past two years.
Meanwhile, Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami criticized the government's approach to hijab and hardliner clerics such as Alamolhoda's insults against Iranian women who brand women without hijab as "unchaste." Khatami said: "Hijab and chastity are two different things," adding that hardliner "clerics should not impose the hijab on the Iranian society."
He pointed out that hijab is a matter of choice, and it should not be imposed on women. He suggested that hardliners should avoid imposing "backward" ideas on the society. He added that "Islam should respond to the needs of the modern world." Khatami further stressed that "Women need to be respected if we wish to move toward a better future."
Khatami said: "You should be a human being first and then decide whether you want to be a religious person." He reiterated that there should be no difference between men and women in terms of freedom and dignity and we understand that there will be no limit to our growth."
Meanwhile, Khatami's former chief of staff, Mohammad Ali Abtahi said: "The affairs of the state cannot be furthered by forcing the people and pushing them into paradise, but some of the country's decision-makers believe that this is a good way of running the country and anyone against it should be suppressed." He called on the government to respect the preferred lifestyle of young Iranians.
Speaking to Reuters, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was given the clearance during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Riyadh Conference on Thursday.
The Iraqi foreign ministry source said that the funds will be transferred through the Commercial Bank of Iraq and confirmed that the money will be used for Iranian pilgrims' expenses and foodstuffs imported by Iran.
Iranian officials have claimed that the money in Iraqi banks could be as much as $10 billion or more. Yahya Al-e Eshaq, the head of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce, was quoted as saying by the local media Saturday that the Iraqi debt is between $7 to $8 billion but only $2.7b has been released and that part of the funds has been earmarked for pilgrims and another portion has been used to purchase basic goods.
According to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Al-e Eshaq also told the media that the payment of the funds to Iran will have a positive impact on Iranian markets, including the foreign exchange and basic goods markets, probably stabilizing them.
Iraq which is heavily dependent on gas and electricity imports from Iran has been in arrears in its payments to Iran since the US government under President Donald Trump imposed banking sanctions on Tehran in 2018, that can target third countries for transferring dollars to Iran.
In late May, a source with direct knowledge of secret talks between Tehran and Washington on the release of Tehran's frozen assets in Iraq and South Korea had told Iran International that the negotiations could result in a deal soon but the implementation of the deal could take time.
South Korea also holds $7 billion of Iran's funds, which it owes for importing Iranian oil prior to full US sanctions imposed in May 2019.
Iran is expected to show more flexibility on issues related to its nuclear program in exchange for the release of its funds in Iraq, and free hostages, presumably US citizens ,but probably also other western hostages with dual nationality, in exchange for its assets in South Korea, the source said.
After 18 months of talks to revive the JCPOA came to a halt in September, the Biden administration has been saying it is no longer focused on the issue and has listed a few conditions Iran must meet, nicknamed by the media as JCPOA Plus.
Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Al-Sahhaf said in a brief statement that Hussein had made progress "regarding financial dues between Iraq and Iran during his discussion with his American counterpart in Riyadh" when asked about the funds.
With Reporting by Reuters
