Bread remains the cornerstone of an affordable meal, but even that is slipping beyond reach as prices surge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf inflation remains unchecked \u2026 Iran could witness a bread riot,\u201d economist Hossein Raghfar told the moderate outlet Rouydad24 this week, warning that inaction could have consequences far beyond the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of planning, combined with external pressures, could leave the country vulnerable to regime change efforts by foreign powers and threaten Iran\u2019s political and social stability,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Several Iranian outlets linked the latest hikes to the psychological impact of the reactivation of the \u201ctrigger mechanism\u201d and the snapback of pre-2015 sanctions.<\/p>\n
Raghfar said poor crisis management has already driven up the cost of foreign trade and imports, predicting further increases and unrest as pressures mount.<\/p>\n
Bleak outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Chamber of Commerce last week projected a worst-case scenario of a 60% currency plunge, inflation at 75%, and unemployment at 14% in the coming months if sanctions are reinstated.<\/p>\n The Chamber later retracted its forecasts, reportedly after a visit by security agencies to its Tehran offices.<\/p>\n Raghfar echoed the concern without citing the forecast. \u201cThe snapback of sanctions will severely impact Iran\u2019s international trade and shipping,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, Iran will face increased restrictions on international banking.\u201d<\/p>\n Tehran is failing to address mounting challenges, Raghfar argued, accusing the government of devising policies that often appear to align with the aims of those seeking to topple the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n President under fire<\/strong><\/p>\n Some critics have been more specific.<\/p>\n Moderate politician and former Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi told Khabar Online that President Masoud Pezeshkian was wasteful and misplaced his priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he visits shrines or the graves of martyrs, he is accompanied by a massive entourage \u2026 of 1\u20132,000, whose presence is unnecessary and has no meaningful impact on the president\u2019s security,\u201d Karbaschi said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe funds allocated to certain religious propaganda organizations exceed the annual budgets of entire ministries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Karbaschi omitted that most such organizations are linked to the office of the supreme leader and lie beyond any administration\u2019s remit. Pezeshkian himself underlined this limited authority on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy should the country\u2019s resources be handed over without reason to institutions and bodies that have no benefit or usefulness?\u201d he asked at a conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bread remains the cornerstone of an affordable meal, but even that is slipping beyond reach as prices surge.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-401923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115155885408056017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}