Iran's Raisi Going To Parliament To Defend His 'Incoherent' Budget

Videos published on social media on Saturday show groups of workers on strike and protesting in front of the provincial offices and departments of the Judiciary in several cities.

Quite ironically, the protesters are chanting slogans asking for justice.

There are also reports of strikes by judicial staff and judges in capital Tehran that is expected to last about a week.

In some cities, the employees of the Judiciary have started to resign from their jobs en masse, with photos of their collective resignation letterscirculating in twitter.

The nationwide protests were triggered following the rejection of a special plan to increase salaries for the judiciary staff by the parliament a few days ago.

People with different professions are holding regular protest rallies to demand better work conditions and salaries with teachers holding the largest number of demonstrations.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent this year, on top of high inflation in the previous three years. Government figures show that prices for 83 percent of basic food staples have reached a critical level. People living on salaries have cut back on consumption of nutritious food, such as meat, fruits and dairy products.

Mohsen Khojastehmehr told Fars news website affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that the government is trying to boost production to the pre-sanction levels until March, as stockpiles of exportable oil bi-products are dwindling.

Iran was producing 3.8 million barrels a day before the United States pulled out of the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA) in May 2018 and imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. For a while Iran continued to produce more as its exports declined from 2.1 million barrels per day to around 200,000 in 2019 and excess inventories began building up by early 2020 and production had to be cut back.

Khojastemehr said that since August when hardliner president Ebrahin Raisi has assumed officie, oil exports have increased, and Tehran is receiving the money. “I cannot mention any numbers on exports, but I can say that the situation has improved,” he said. “Revenues from oil exports return to the country…We have a duty in the oil company to sell the oil and give the money to the central bank, which decides what to do with it,” Khpjastemehr added.

Iran’s oil exports began increasing in September 2020, before the presidential elections in the United States, reaching from 200,000 bpd to around 600,000 according to monitoring groups. The claim that exports increased further since Raisi took office and the proceeds received in cash cannot be verified.

Looking at Iran’s financial situation, with annual inflation holding at around 45 percent and a weak national currency that has fallen further since Raisi came to office, it is not clear if Tehran has been able to repatriate foreign currency generated by oil exports.

Iranian analysts have been saying that most illicit oil which is shipped to China is compensated for by Chinese goods through middlemen who reap huge profits.

A business representative, Masoud Daneshmand told Iran’s Labour News Agency (ILNA) on January 3 that Iran gives China oil and receives “inferior quality products”. The chairman of Iran-Switzerland Chamber of Commerce, Sharif Nezam-Mafi, on December 24 criticized the government's plans to increase barter transactions with other countries and pointed out that Iran needed technology which developed countries are not likely to transfer to Iran through barter.

But there is little doubt that in 2021 Iran increased its oil exports, as some believe the Biden Administration has stopped enforcing sanctions rigorously as it tries to restore the JCPOA and has said it is willing to lift most economic sanctions if Tehran stops the expansion of its nuclear program.

The World Bank approved the aid on December 21 because Iran is "the epicenter of Covid-19 infections in the region" and mitigating “the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country” would reduce the contagion of the disease beyond its borders that benefits the neighbors, particularly as the Omicron variant is causing a new wave of cases.

The spokesperson told AFP that the loan "will be utilized only for procuring additional lifesaving, essential medical equipment to strengthen Iran's pandemic response", emphasizing that "This funding will not go to the Iranian budget and all loan proceeds, as well as procurement and disbursements, are being managed by the World Health Organization”.

“Distribution and installation of equipment will take place at health facilities approved by the World Bank and will be subject to independent monitoring and verification," added the spokesperson.

In May 2020, the World Bank granted Tehran $50 million via the Iran Covid-19 Emergency Response Project "on an exceptional basis" due to the pandemic.

Iran, which confirmed the first Omicron case on December 19, is the worst hit countries in the Middle East by more than 132,000 deaths since February 2020.

The director of the ministry’s nutrition department, Zahra Abdollahi, said on Friday that the rise in food prices and inflationare the main reasons that have made people consume less milk products.

She noted that the country’s average consumption has always been under the recommended amount but the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation have contributed to the sharp decline.

Abdollahi added that such low consumption of dairy products -- and consequently less calcium and phosphorus -- can cause serious health issues among people, particularly in children.

She stressed that currently osteoporosis is one of the leading diseases in Iran, warning that such a low consumption of dairy products can further increase such problems in the coming years.

Mentioning some reports that predict a 60-percent rise in the price of milk products in the coming months, she urged the authorities to consider subsidies and plans for free-of-charge milk for students.

The Iranian government has cut the subsidy on milk, which resulted in higher prices for dairy products, while free-of-charge milk is no longer distributed in elementary schools.

Despite having the biggest dairy products factory in the Middle East, Iran has a per capita consumption of about 60 to 80 kilograms a year, that is about half of the global average.

The founder of the Pahlavi dynasty banned women from wearing both traditional Islamic veils covering the whole body (chador) and headscarves. The shah had previously spent several years promoting "kashf-e hejab,” or unveiling, through requiring female teachers and students to attend school unveiled.

The shah regarded Iranian hijab and traditional costumes as a sign of ‘backwardness,’ and tried also to compel men to wear what he regarded as ‘western’ costumes and hats.

With the ban on hijab, many women stayed inside their homes for years or left home only in the dark or hidden inside carriages to avoid confrontation with the police who would if necessary use force to unveil them. Even older Christian and Jewish women found the ban on headscarves hard to comply with.

The ban was declared at the graduation ceremony of Tehran teacher's college, at which the queen and the shah’s two daughters appeared in public unveiled in Western attire. In a speech at the ceremony, the shah said Iranian women “should stand out in society the same way as they stand out at their homes.”

The religious establishment which saw, and still sees, the unveiling of women as a blow to its values and power, strongly opposed the decree and Reza Shah's other attempts at modernization.

It was "one of the huge crimes" of the Pahlavi dynasty aimed at destroying and modesty in Iran,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech on January 7, 2016. "It was meant to get people engrossed in their very powerful sexual desires so that they would abandon everything else."

Implementation of the ban eased, and many women went back to traditional ways of dressing when Reza Shah went into exile in 1941 due to his German sympathies and under British pressure for the succession of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In the last few years before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, wearing headscarves became popular among those in the younger generation who often saw it as a means to express their political opposition to the monarchy and its westernization of the Iranian society.

In the early days of the Revolution, some women who did not cover their hair were prevented from entering government offices, banks, and other public areas. The law requiring women to cover hair heads and wear long, loose-fitting coats in public was passed in 1983 and those who defy it, even inside their cars risk face fines or prison and lashing. Some anti-hijab activists have been jailed.

A report by the parliament's research center in 2018 said the number of Iranians who believed in mandatory hijab had waned. According to the report those who considered the hijab a value that could be stipulated in law had fallen from 85 percent in the early 1980s to around 35 percent.