Siwan Meriwan,
The inter-states sanctions imposed on Iran are gradually eliciting their effects as the Iranian feeble economy has been overburdened by the sanctions and unable to straighten its back.
Although the Iranian statesmen deny the current fiscal crisis, but the economic isolation, the increasing inflation of the basic needs of people, extraordinary increase in the foreign currencies along with the drop of the Iranian toman are all indicative of that fact that along with social and political crises that Iran has to grapple with, the economic calamity is also a reality that no one is able to deny.
A raising question here would be, how much and to what extent Iran would be capable of standing these crises?
The emergence of Iran’s recent economic crisis is reminiscent of what happened in the Iraq of 1990s ruled by Saddam Hussein. Saddam’s regime did not yield to the Western powers’ demands; they firstly crippled him economically and then toppled his regime with a military invasion. In a similar way, it would be possible to initiate military intervention after the economic failing of Iran.
Saddam Hussein destroyed not only himself, but his nation also. The negative effects of the economic sanction on the Iraqi society, both its physical and cultural sides, have lingered on for a quite long period of time. In the similar way, the economic sanctions imposed on Iran have put a significant pressure on the Iranian peoples and would destroy all the social values of the Iranian society emanating from the sacrosanct values of cultural society of its matriarchal era.
On the one hand, the Iranian regime is resisting to any kind of opening, on the other it has overstrained its people out of its stubbornness in confrontation with the West. The deteriorated economic condition caused by the sanctions along with the corruption and extortion of the Iranian officials has reached a level threatening the multi-national society of Iran. The economic crisis has come to a point that, were it not solved, its negative consequences on the Iranian societies would linger on for decades to come.
A day would not go on without news broadcasted about the Iranian economic crisis, spanning from the closure of the factories, widespread unemployment, firing of the workers, unpaid salaries, increasing inflation and very lately the influx in the foreign currencies. The media news outlets do broadcast on the Iranian crisis on a daily basis.
What is clear is the increase in the rate of the basic needs of people including, bread, oil, sugar, meat etc which have badly hit the financial states of the people in a way that the middle-class families do not exist any more. The Iranian society has been divided into two classes; the first class is a very small segment of well-off people who are involved in the state apparatus having their hands in the Iranian feeble market, and the second class which is comprised of the most population are those who strive 24 hours a day to make the living.
After the increase in the bread price, emerged the discharge of the workers along with the closure of factories and the topic of “chicken”, and now the topic of foreign currencies have emerged. The American dollars have taken an astonishing increase. A dollar was exchanged for 2.445 Iranian tomans on Tuesday and a Euro for 3.230 tomans.
To tackle this issue, the Iranian authorities have within the last few weeks barraged the minds of peoples with the “subsidize of foreign currencies”, but the head of Iran’s Central Bank said on before yesterday that such a sponsor would not emerge in Iran. Mahmoad Ahmadi the head of Central Bank had also announced that the Bank is not capable of preventing the drop in the Iranian currency. In this manner he confirmed the breakdown of financial policies of Iran’s Central Bank.
It is worth noting that the Iranian regime, similar to other despotic and dictatorial rules, when it is left with no option it opts for militaristic and repressive way to deal with the issues. Following the announcement of the failure made by the Iranian authorities as well as the Central Bank officials, the repressive personnel of “Security Forces” have taken the stage announcing they would strongly act upon those who deal illegally with the foreign currencies.
The Iranian regime has now only one option. It is either prepared to undergo a radical change with reference to its political system as well as its approaches to make possible a democratic breakthrough to encounter the social, political and financial crises, or it would follow the footsteps of Saddam Hussein.
The time has arrived for Iran to yield to democratic demands made by the Iranian nations particularly the Kurds, Azeri, Baluch, and Arab to bring about democratic changes; otherwise, the current severe financial circumstance and other emerging crises are directing the Iranian society into an abyss.