Mehdi Karroubi, a veteran political critic and former speaker of Iran’s parliament, has criticised the scale of budget allocations to what he called “religious and governmental institutions, describing the spending as a “plunder of the national treasury”, reported the BBC Farsi.
Questioning the Khamenei regime, Karroubi said that if the reported allocations are accurate, it is shocking that President Masoud Pezeshkian would allow such spending at a time of severe economic distress and near war-like conditions. He accused the government of squandering public wealth while ordinary Iranians struggle.
Karroubi, who was released from house arrest less than a year ago, directly addressed the president, urging him to end what he described as rent-seeking by institutions that consume large portions of the national budget without delivering any real benefit to the country. He added that, as a cleric, he felt ashamed before the public over the funds distributed in the name of religious and cultural causes.